Enrichment, performance, and microbial diversity of a thermophilic mediatorless microbial fuel cell

Abstract

A thermophilic mediatorless microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC) was developed for continuous electricity production while treating artificial wastewater concurrently. A maximum power density of 1030 +/- 340 mW/m(2) was generated continuously at 55 degrees C with an anode retention time of 27 min (11 mL h(-1)) and continuous pumping of air-saturated phosphate buffer into the cathode compartment at the retention time of 0.7 min (450 mL h(-1)). Meanwhile, about 80% of the electrons available from acetate oxidation were recovered as current. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and direct 16S-rRNA gene analysis revealed that the bacterial diversity in this ML-MFC system was lower than the inoculum. Direct 16S rDNA analysis showed that the dominant bacteria representing 57.8% of total population in anode compartment was phylogenetically very closely related to an uncultured clone, clone E4. Two sheets of graphite used as the anode showed different dominant bacterial population. For the first time, it is shown that thermophilic electrochemically active bacteria can be enriched to concurrently generate electricity and treat artificial wastewater in a thermophilic ML-MFC.