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Energy can be harvested from marine sediments by placing an anode in the anoxic zone and connecting it to a cathode in the overlying aerobic water, with microorganisms of the family Geobacteraceae enriching on the anode and conserving energy by oxidizing organic compounds with the electrode as the sole electron acceptor. This process not only extracts energy from organic matter but also offers a strategy for bioremediation of organic contaminants in subsurface environments. The findings demonstrate the potential of Microbial Electrochemical Systems (MES) for energy harvesting and environmental remediation.

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Abstract

Energy in the form of electricity can be harvested from marine sediments by placing a graphite electrode (the anode) in the anoxic zone and connecting it to a graphite cathode in the overlying aerobic water. We report a specific enrichment of microorganisms of the family Geobacteraceae on energy-harvesting anodes, and we show that these microorganisms can conserve energy to support their growth by oxidizing organic compounds with an electrode serving as the sole electron acceptor. This finding not only provides a method for extracting energy from organic matter, but also suggests a strategy for promoting the bioremediation of organic contaminants in subsurface environments.

Keywords

Anoxic watersMicrobial fuel cellMicroorganismOxidizing agentElectron acceptorEnvironmental chemistry

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/science.1066771
Journal
Science
Year
2002