Performance of bioelectrochemical systems in treating exhaust gas with power generation: Effects of shock-load, shut-down episodes and microbial community

Abstract

A diffusive packed anode-bioelectrochemical (Dpa-Bes) system was constructed by feeding waste gas from the cathode to the anode tank in DPa-Bes through a proton exchange membrane (PEM). The high removal of oxygen by the PEM and the effective combination of the two packing materials reduced the electron loss and enhanced the proton transfer capacity, promoting the removal of acetone from the exhaust gas and increasing the output power. The maximum acetone removal efficiency of the modified Dpa-Bes reached ∼99 % after seven days of closed-circuit operation, with a 3.2-fold increase in maximum power density and a 2.27-fold increase in closed-circuit voltage relative to those of the unmodified Dpa-Bes. When the acetone concentration was 2400 ppm, the removal efficiency was 73.22 % and the elimination capacity was at its highest value of 290.21 g/m3/h. Microbial analysis revealed that the conductive filter contained abundant facultative and anaerobic bacteria, whereas the non-conductive filter was rich in aerobic bacteria. The abundance of anaerobic and facultative microorganisms in Dpa-Bes was much higher than in the unmodified Dpa-Bes, and the dominant bacteria were Flavobacterium and Ferruginibacter.