Abstract
Understanding of how operational parameters affect the composition of exoelectrogenic microbes is an important step in the development of efficient microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In the present study, single-chamber MFCs were inoculated with rice paddy-field soil and continuously supplied with an acetate medium containing different concentrations of NaCl (0–1.8 M). Polarization analyses showed that power output increased as the NaCl concentration increased to 0.1 M, while it was markedly diminished over 0.3 M. The increase in power output was associated with an increased abundance of anode microbes as assessed by protein assays. Notably, the power increase was also accompanied by an increase in the abundance ratio of Geobacter bacteria to total anode bacteria as assessed by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and specific quantitative PCR. Although most Geobacter species are known to exhibit high growth rates in freshwater media without NaCl, the present study shows that 0.1 M NaCl facilitates the growth of Geobacter in MFC anode biofilms. This result suggests that the optimum salt concentration in MFC is determined by the balance of two factors, namely, the solution conductivity and salt tolerance of exoelectrogens.
Highlights
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices that use living microbes for the generation of electricity coupled to the decomposition of organic matter (Logan et al 2006; Watanabe 2008; Pant et al 2010)
Effects of NaCl concentration on power output We examined the power outputs from MFCs supplied with the acetate medium containing NaCl at concentrations of 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.6 and 1.8 M (0M-MFC, 0.05M-MFC, 0.1M-MFC, 0.3M-MFC, 0.6M-MFC and 1.8M-MFC, respectively)
Clear correlation was detected between the power output and abundance of Geobacteraceae bacteria (Figure 5), suggesting that NaCl affects the physiology and growth of these exoelectrogens
Summary
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices that use living microbes for the generation of electricity coupled to the decomposition of organic matter (Logan et al 2006; Watanabe 2008; Pant et al 2010). Owing to the great diversity of microbial metabolic capacities, MFCs are capable of generating electricity from a wide range of organic and inorganic compounds. MFCs can generate electricity from biomass waste and pollutants in wastewater by exploiting naturally occurring microbial communities as self-organizing anode catalysts (Rozendal et al 2008; Lefebvre et al 2011). Due to these advantageous properties, extensive efforts are being made to develop MFCs as energy-saving and cost-efficient options for wastewater treatment (Du et al 2007; Lefebvre et al 2011). MFCs were inoculated with rice paddy-field soil and operated at NaCl concentrations ranging from 0 to 1.8 M for examining potential interdependencies among NaCl concentration, power output, and anode microbes
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