USE OF MICROBIAL FUEL CELL SYSTEMS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN CONNECTION WITH BIOENERGY GENERATION

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) provide a sustainable solution for wastewater treatment and renewable energy generation, with their efficiency being highly dependent on microbial community composition, which varies considerably across effluent types and operational conditions. In this study, metagenomic sequencing libraries of 16S rRNA amplicons were obtained from 227 samples across 30 published MFC studies. These libraries were processed using the QIIME2 v2025.5.1 amplicon data analysis pipeline to perform taxonomic classification, evaluate microbial diversity metrics, and infer functional pathway associations. Despite the variability observed, common electroactive genera such as Geobacter (1.10%) and organic matter degraders like Proteiniphilum (0.84%) were consistently identified, along with halotolerant Halobacteriota in high-salinity environments. At the phylum level, Pseudomonadota (13.45%) and Bacteroidota (9.88%) were predominant, with functional pathways linked to extracellular electron transfer, biofilm formation, and pollutant degradation. These findings underscore key microbial taxa and metabolic processes critical to MFC performance, providing a foundation for optimizing microbial consortia and refining operational strategies to enhance bioenergy production and wastewater treatment across diverse environmental contexts.

Key findings

• ▸Common electroactive genera such as Geobacter (1.10%) and organic matter degraders like Proteiniphilum (0.84%) were consistently identified.
• ▸Halotolerant Halobacteriota were identified in high-salinity environments.
• ▸Pseudomonadota (13.45%) and Bacteroidota (9.88%) were predominant phyla, linked to extracellular electron transfer, biofilm formation, and pollutant degradation.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.20873/pibic_2024_21014

Journal

DESAFIOS - Revista Interdisciplinar da Universidade Federal do Tocantins

Year

2025