Abstract
The development of bioelectrochemical systems reinforces the necessity for the identification and engineering of electroactive bacteria with improved performance and novel biochemical properties. In this study, using a newly designed 96-well-plate array of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), we compared the electroactive capabilities of microbial communities derived from four mine drainages. The maximum power density of individual wells after two weeks of inoculation was 102 mW/m3, whereas the maximum current density was 1.6 A/m3. Transferring communities from individual wells into larger MFCs comprising low (20 mg/L) and high (200 mg/L) concentrations of Cu yielded maximum power densities of 445 and 58 mW/m3, respectively, with up to a 3.7 fold decrease in Cu2+ ions within 24 h. Electrochemical data analysis revealed that microbial consortia can be distinguished based on their electrochemical profiles. Our results showed that a 96-well MFC array is a suitable platform for high-throughput screening, selection, and subsequent source of enriched electroactive consortia. The quantitative and comparative analysis followed by principal component analysis indicated that the initial environmental conditions, as well as physical and chemical parameters of the lakes were crucial to develop an efficient electroactive community. Further applications of the proposed platform include genetic engineering, phenotype screening, and mutagenesis studies of both microbial communities and single cultures. This is the first time that a high-throughput MFC platform is used to evaluate the performance of multiple electroactive consortia towards Cu removal.
Highlights
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices in which anodic microor ganisms oxidize organic matter and produce electric current as a byproduct of their metabolism
electro chemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was performed on each well prior to inoculation using a sterile medium as an electrolyte (Table S2)
Similar findings were obtained for the Yellow Lake, its oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) was higher in the water fraction (525 and 497 mV), whereas its conductivity was higher in the sediment fraction (4.7 mS/cm w.r.t. 3.15 mS/cm)
Summary
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices in which anodic microor ganisms oxidize organic matter and produce electric current as a byproduct of their metabolism. The most critical components of MFC design comprise several groups of separators [16,17], electrode mate rials, and catalysts [18,19] Such diversity renders comparative studies extremely difficult, as a significant portion of electroactive bacteria activity is determined and limited by the reactor design, materials used, etc. Hou et al [22,23,24] developed multiwell arrays to further miniaturize and unify reactors by depositing Ti/Au on glass to fabricate anodes with ferricyanide [22], aircathodes [23] or microfluidic channels with continuous anolyte and catholyte replenishment [24] which increased the power output by a factor of three These reactors were used to screen previously selected electrochemically active environmental isolates. Another example of well-plate array implementation was demonstrated by Yuan et al.,
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