Production of Electricity and Butanol from Microalgal Biomass in Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

Chlorella vulgaris (a freshwater microalga) and Dunaliella tertiolecta (a marine microalga) were grown for bulk harvest, and their biomass was tested as feedstock for electricity production in cubic two-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) at 37°C. The anode inoculum was anaerobic consortium from a municipal sewage sludge digester, enriched separately for the two microalgal biomass feedstocks. After repeated subculturing of the two anaerobic enrichments, the maximum power density obtained in MFCs was higher from C. vulgaris (15.0 vs. 5.3 mW m−2) while power generation was more sustained from D. tertiolecta (13 vs. 9.8 J g-1 volatile solids). Anolytes of algal biomass-fed MFCs also contained substantial levels of butanol (8.7–16 mM with C. vulgaris and 2.5–7.0 mM with D. tertiolecta), which represents an additional form of utilizable energy. Carryover of salts from the marine D. tertiolecta biomass slurry resulted in gradual precipitation of Ca and Mg phosphates on the cathode side of the MFC. Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiling and sequencing of bacterial communities demonstrated the presence of Wolinella succinogenes and Bacteroides and Synergistes spp. as well as numerous unknown bacteria in both enrichments. The D. tertiolecta enriched consortium contained also Geovibrio thiophilus and Desulfovibrio spp. Thus, the results indicate potential for combining fermentation and anaerobic respiration for bioenergy production from photosynthetic biomass.