EU-ISMET 2014 · 2nd European meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology
nd
2 European meeting of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology
University of Alcalá, 3 - 5 September 2014
www.eu-ismet2014.org
#eu_ismet2014
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
SPONSORS:
ORGANISED BY:
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
Publised by:
• Department of Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,
University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain)
• Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá, Department of Training
and Congresses, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain)
© Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Book Index
•• Welcome.............................................................................. 5
•• Organising Committees....................................................... 7
•• Meeting Programme........................................................... 9
•• Index of abstracts............................................................... 17
•• Invited Conferences........................................................... 29
•• Oral Communications........................................................ 43
•• Pitch Communications....................................................... 75
•• Posters Communications................................................... 99
•• Index of authors............................................................... 177
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
3
for
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Welcome
It is our pleasure to have all of you at the 2nd European regional
meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology (ISMET) held at University of Alcalá, Alcalá de
Henares, Madrid.
This three-day conference will provide an open forum
for researchers and professionals in the field of microbial
electrochemistry and technologies (METs) to discuss and present
their research. This young but sparkling society is covering a vast
scenario of topics as fascinating as extracellular electron transfer in
bacteria or as applied as bioremediation of wastewater, polluted
soil or sediments, microbial electrosynthesis, desalination,
biosensor field or energy generation.
Choose your topic of interest among the six sessions scheduled for the following two days. We have invited speakers from
all over the world and we are delighted to report that abstract
submission has increased 30% respect the previous EU-ISMET
two years ago, so our field is definitively growing! Let´s try to
keep this trend while we get a high quality conference in one of
the oldest universities in Europe. Enjoy presentations organized
among the ancient walls and then move the scientific discussion
to the many terrace cafes in the summer night.
The already traditional Biofilm Electrochemistry workshop is also
taking place at University of Alcalá on 3rd September. If you want
to know the basics from MET from experts in the field while performing a “hands-on” experience, then this is your course.
Prof. Abraham Esteve-Núñez
Chair of the Local Organising Committee
www.eu-ismet2014.org
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Organising Committees
Chair
Abraham Esteve Núñez
University of Alcalá
Local Committee
Scientific Committee
Eloy García Calvo
Director of IMDEA Water
Federico Aulenta
Water Research Institute (IRSA-CNR),
Italy
Pedro Letón García
University of Alcalá
Karina Boltes Espínola
University of Alcalá
Antonio Rodríguez Alba
University of Alcalá
Tristano Bacchetti de Gregoris
IMDEA Water
Amor Larrosa
IMDEA Water
Belén Barroeta
University of Alcalá
Antonio Berná
University of Alcalá
Frédéric Barrière
University of Rennes, France
Alain Bergel
ENSIACET, France
Cees Buisman
Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Miriam Rosenbaum
RTWH Aachen University, Germany
Xochitl Dominguez
VITO, Belgium
Ian Head
Newcastle University, UK
Korneel Rabaey
Ghent University, Belgium
Ricardo Louro
ITQB, Portugal
Uwe Schröeder
Braunchweig University, Germany
Falk Harnisch
UFZ, Germany
Jordi Mas
University of Barcelona, Spain
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Organising Secretariat
Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá
Department of Training and Congresses
C/ Imagen, 1 y 3
28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain)
Phone: +34 91 879 74 30
Fax: +34 91 879 74 55
Email: [email protected]
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Meeting programme
Wednesday 3rd September
09:00
Hands-on Microbial Electrochemistry Workshop (I).
Venue: Edificio Polivalente de Química
External Campus at Universidad de Alcalá
Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona, km. 33,600
28871 Alcalá de Henares
12:00Lunch
13:00
Hands-on Microbial Electrochemistry Workshop (II).
16:00Registration
Venue:
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales
Universidad de Alcalá
Plaza de la Victoria, 2
Alcalá de Henares
19:30 Guided tour to the old University of Alcalá
20:30 Welcome reception
Venue:
Venue:
Universidad de Alcalá
Colegio de San Ildefonso (Rectorado)
Plaza de San Diego
Alcalá de Henares
Patio de Santo Tomás
Colegio de San Ildefonso (Rectorado)
Universidad de Alcalá
Plaza de San Diego
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Thursday, 4th September
09:00
Opening comments
Abraham Esteve-Núñez & Korneel Rabaey
09:15
Keynote
Korneel Rabaey. University of Ghent
Microbial electrosynthesis - electricity driven bioproduction and extraction
PARALLEL SESSIONS
SESSION 1. Fundamentals of Microbial Extracellular Electron Transfer
Venue:
Plenary Sessions Room
Chair: Carlos Salgueiro
10:00
Invited speaker: Leonard Tender. Center for Bio/Molecular Science and
Engineering.
Electrochemical, AFM, and single-cell resolution Raman analysis of anodegrown Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms early in growth
Oral Communications:
10:30(OC-01) Unbalanced fermentation in Escherichia coli by heterologous
production of an electron transport chain and electrode-interaction in microbial
electrochemical cells
Katrin Richter. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
10:50
Coffee break/Poster session
11:15
Invited speaker: Ricardo Louro. University of Lisbon
Contactless extracellular electron transfer-molecular details of the interaction
between outer membrane cytochromes and soluble redox shuttles.
Oral Communications:
11:45(OC-02) The heme network: Uncoupling charge and discharge mechanisms
for planktonic cells of Geobacter sulfurreducens using a Fluidised Bed Electrode
Sara Tejedor. FCC Aqualia
12:05(OC-03) On the use of Raman microscopy for the study of cytochrome-based
electron transport in electrochemically active biofilms
Bernardino Virdis. The University of Queensland
12:25(OC-04) On the modeling of the surface area that actually contributes
to the current density produced in microbial electrochemical systems
Alexandro Carmona-Martínez. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
(INRA)
SESSION 2. METs and water treatment (I): removal of inorganic pollutants
Venue:
Lectures Room
Chair: Albert Guisasola
10:00 I nvited speaker: Martijn Bijsman. Wetsus
ValuefromUrine, an interesting business case
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Oral Communications:
10:30(OC-05) Engineering reactor microbiomes of denitrifying Bioelectrochemical
Systems
N. Pous. University of Girona
10:50
Coffee break/Poster session
11:15
Invited speaker: Annemiek ter Heijne. Wageningen University
Bioelectrochemical systems for metal recovery
Oral Communications:
11:45(OC-06) Bioelectrochemical recovery of metals: where are we and where
to concentrate efforts in the framework of international criticality?
Xochitl Dominguez-Benetton. Flemish Institute for Technological Research VITO
12:05(OC-07) Bioelectrochemical tetrathionate degradation with acidophilic
microorganisms
Mira L.K. Sulonen. Tampere University of Technology
12:25(OC-08) Nitrogen recovery from pig slurry in two-chamber bioelectrochemical
system (BES)
Ana Sostres. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (IRTA)
12.45
Lunch
SESSION 3. Microbial Electrochemical Synthesis
Venue:
Plenary Sessions Room
Chair: Miriam Rosenbaum
13:45 Invited speaker: Tian Zhang. Technical University of Denmark
Microbial electrosynthesis: understanding and strengthening microbeelectrode interactions
Oral Communications:
14:15 (OC-09) Bioelectrochemical reduction of CO2 to organic compounds
Suman Bajracharya. Flemish Institute for Technological Research VITO
14:35(OC-10) A realistic approach for electromethanogenesis: coupling carbon
capture to biogas upgrading
Pau Batlle-Vilanova. University of Girona
14:55(OC-11) Direct biocatalysis of methane from carbon dioxide
by a lithoautotrophic archaeon
Pascal F. Beese-Vasbender. Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung
15:15
Coffee break/Poster Session
Oral Communications:
15:45
(OC-12) Electro-fermentation: membrane electrolysis drives the rapid
valorisation of biorefinery thin stillage
Stephen J. Andersen. University of Ghent
16:05(OC-13) Three-chamber microbial electrolysis cell as a post-treatment step
to refine both biogas and liquid effluent from anaerobic digestion
M. Zeppilli. University of Rome
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
SESSION 4. METs and water treatment (II): removal of organic pollutants
Venue: Lectures Room
Chair: Tom Curtis
13:45
Invited speaker: Abraham Esteve-Núñez. University of Alcalá
How are MET in bed? From fixed to mobile
Oral Communications:
14:15
(OC-14) Reductive dechlorination in a pilot-scale membraneless
bioelectrochemical reactor and effect of competing reactions
Roberta Verdini. University of Rome
14:35
(OC-15) Development of on-site power generation modular system
for wastewater sludge valorisation using a combination of partial anaerobic
digestion and Microbial Fuel Cell technologies
Marta Macias Aragonés. IDENER
14:55
(OC-16) Laccase from Trametes versicolor can help to improve
the performance of Microbial Fuel Cells and to efficiently degrade
micropollutants from wastewater
Sabine Sané. University of Freiburg
15:15
Coffee break/Poster Session
Oral Communications:
15:45(OC-17) Biomass retention on electrodes rather than electrical current
enhances stability in anaerobic digestion
Jan B.A. Arends. University of Ghent
16:05(OC-18) On the challenges of scaling up and performance assessment
of bioelectrochemical systems based on a technical scale microbial electrolysis
cell
Robert Keith Brown. TU-Braunschweig
16:25
The Pitch: Sessions S1, S3 and S5
Venue: Plenary Sessions Room
(PP-01) A new tool for modelling electroactive microbial biofilms based on
direct electron transfer
Luis F. M. Rosa
(PP-02) Electrochemical investigation of aerobic biocathodes at different
poised potentials: evidence for mediated extracellular electron transfer
Edward Milner
(PP-03) Follow the red road of cytochromes in G. sulfurreducens: a key step
to understand extracellular electron transfer pathways
Carlos Salgueiro
(PP-04) Combination of bioanode and biocathode for the conversion of wastes
into biocommodities using microbial electrosynthesis
E. Desmond-Le Quéméner
(PP-05) Domestic wastewater treatment in parallel to methane production in a
semipilot MEC
Ruben Moreno
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
(PP-06) Simultaneous production and extraction of acetate from CO2 during
microbial electrosynthesis
Sylvia Gildemyn
(PP-07) Screening for new microbial electroreduction biocatalysts
Tatiana de Campos Rodrigues
(PP-08) Acid-tolerant microorganisms for the treatment of acid mine drainage
through mfc systems
Eduardo Leiva
(PP-09) Unclassified γ-Proteobacteria are dominant in biofilms of high
performing oxygen reducing biocathodes
David P. B. T. B. Strik
(PP-10) Strategies for cleaning up ATRAZINE-polluted soils using Microbial
Electroremediating Cells (MERCs)
Ainara Domínguez-Garay
16:25
The Pitch: Sessions S2, S4 and S6
Venue: Lectures Room
(PP-11) An innovative bioelectrochemical-anaerobic digestion-coupled system
for in-situ ammonia recovery and biogas enhancement: process performance
and microbial ecology
Yifeng Zhang
(PP-12) High performance configuration on MFC for copper recovery
P. Rodenas
(PP-13) Treatment of olive brine wastewater by bioelectrochemical systems
Marone Antonella
(PP-14) Bioelectro-catalytic valorization of dark fermentation effluents
by acetate oxidizing bacteria in Bioelectrochemical System (BES)
Sandipam Srikanth
(PP-15) Improved COD removal and ammonia recovery from anaerobic
digestion and bioelectrochemical integrated system (BES)
Míriam Cerrillo
(PP-16) Scale-up of Microbial Electrolysis Cells for domestic wastewater
treatment
Adrián Escapa
(PP-17) Hydrodynamic modelling for anode design in Microbial Fuel Cells
Albert Vilà
(PP-18) Long-term evaluation of deposited polyaniline on commercial carbon
felt used as anode in Microbial Fuel Cells
D. Hidalgo
(PP-19) Microbial Electrochemical Constructed Wetlands (METlands): design
and operation conditions for enhancing the removal of pollutants in real urban
wastewater
Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra
(PP-20) Development and fabrication of a stand alone, handheld biosensor
system by combining a novel carbon nanotube (CNT) microtube electrode
with arabinose sensing S. oneidensis JG410
Malte Heyer
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
17:15
Poster Session
21:00
Meeting Banquet
Venue: Parador de Alcalá de Henares
Calle Colegios, 8
Alcalá de Henares
Friday 5th September
SESSION 5. Environmental Applications & Microbial Ecology
Venue: Plenary Sessions Room
Chair: Alain Bergel
09:00
Invited speaker: Cesar Torres. University of Arizona
Microbial hydrolysis and its role in microbial electrochemistry applications
Oral Communications:
09:30(OC-19) Bioelectrode-based approach for enhancing nitrate and nitrite removal
and electricity generation from eutrophic lakes
Yifeng Zhang. Technical University of Denmark
09:50(OC-20) An innovative bioelectrochemical approach to accelerate
hydrocarbons biodegradation in anoxic contaminated marine sediments:
the ‘Oil-Spill Snorkel’
Carolina Cruz Viggi. Water Reasearch Institute - CNR
10:10(OC-21) Towards understanding interspecies communication and synergism
in Pseudomonas aeruginosa co-cultures for application in current production
Erick Bosire. RWTH Aache
10:30
Coffee break/Poster Session
11:00
Invited speaker: Frédéric Barrière. University of Rennes
A single sediment Microbial Fuel Cell powering a wireless telecommunication
system
Oral Communications:
11:30(OC-22) Comparison of microbial communities at full-scale hybrid Microbial
Electrochemical Constructed Wetlands (METlands) for urban wastewater
treatment
Tristano Bacchetti de Gregoris. IMDEA AGUA
11:50(OC-23) From monitoring to steering microbiomes in BES using single
cell analysis
Christin Koch. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ
12:10(OC-24) Effect of light on mixed community-based bioanodes
Dorin-Mirel Popescu. Newcastle University
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
SESSION 6. System Architecture in MET
Venue:
Lectures Room
Chair: Falk Harnisch
09:00 Invited speaker: Bruce Logan. University of Pennsylvania
Effective wastewater treament using microbial fuel cells and anaerobic fluidized
bed membrane bioreactors
Oral Communications:
09:30(OC-25) Microbial Fuel Cell-based Biochemical Oxygen Demand sensors
Martin Spurr. Newcastle University
09:50(OC-26) Iron oxide nanoparticles-coated stainless steel felt: a promising anodic
material for microbial electrochemical systems
Kun Guo. University of Ghent
10:10(OC-27) Maximum power point tracking strategy applied to Microbial Fuel
Cells to reduce start-up time and minimize overpotentials
Daniele Molognoni. University of Pavia
10:30
Coffee break/Poster Session
11:00
Invited speaker: Uwe Schroeder. TU-Braunschweig
The development of microbial electrochemical technologies and the need
for terminology and classification
Oral Communications:
11:30(OC-28) Granular capacitive bio-anodes in a fluidized bed reactor for scalingup Microbial Fuel Cells
Tom H.J.A. Sleutels. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water
Technology
11:50(OC-29) A novel anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactor (AnEMBR)
for energy recovery and water reclamation from low-organic strength solutions
Krishna Katuri. King Abdullah University
12:10(OC-30) A novel carbon nanotube modified scaffold creates an efficient
biocathode material for improved microbial electrosynthesis
Ludovic Jourdin. University of Queensland
12:30
Lunch
13:30
ISMET in Europe. Quo vadis, EU - ISMET?
Venue: Plenary Sessions Room
13:45
General conclusions
Awards
Closing ceremony
Venue: Plenary Sessions Room
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
15
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
2nd European meeting
of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry
and Technology
(EU-ISMET 2014)
Index of abstracts
Invited conferences
üü Microbial electrosynthesis - electricity driven bioproduction and extraction............................ 31
Sylvia Gildemyn, Kristof Verbeeck, Stephen Andersen and Korneel Rabaey
üü Electrochemical, AFM, and single-cell resolution Raman analysis of anode-grown
Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms early in growth..................................................................... 32
Nikolai Lebedev, Sarah M. Strycharz-Glaven and Leonard M. Tender
üü Contactless extracellular electron transfer-molecular details of the interaction between
outer membrane cytochromes and soluble redox shuttles........................................................ 33
Ricardo O. Louro
üü ValuefromUrine, an interesting business case.............................................................................. 34
Martin Bijmans, M. Rodríguez Arredondo, P. Kuntke, M. Saakes, C.J.N. Buisman
and A. ter Heijne
üü Bioelectrochemical systems for metal recovery.......................................................................... 35
Annemiek ter Heijne, Pau Rodenas Motos, Roel J.W. Meulepas, Martijn F.M. Bijmans,
Tom H.J.A. Sleutels and Cees J.N. Buisman
üü Microbial electrosynthesis: understanding and strengthening microbe-electrode
interactions.................................................................................................................................... 36
Tian Zhang
üü How are MET in bed? From fixed to mobile............................................................................... 37
Abraham Esteve-Núñez
üü Microbial hydrolysis and its role in microbial electrochemistry applications.............................. 38
Dongwon Ki, Bradley Lusk, Prathap Parameswaran, Sudeep C. Popat and César I. Torres
üü A single sediment Microbial Fuel Cell powering a wireless telecommunication system.......... 39
Y. R. J. Thomas, M. Picot, A. Carer, O. Berder, O. Sentieys and F. Barrière
üü Effective wastewater treament using Microbial Fuel Cells and Anaerobic Fuidized Bed
Membrane Bioreactors................................................................................................................. 40
Bruce Logan
üü The development of microbial electrochemical technologies and the need
for terminology and classification................................................................................................. 41
Uwe Schröder, Falk Harnisch and Largus T. Angenent
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Oral comunications
Session 1. Fundamentals of Microbial Extracellular Electron Transfer
üü Unbalanced fermentation in Escherichia coli by heterologous production of an electron
transport chain and electrode-interaction in Microbial Electrochemical Cells........................... 45
Katrin Richter, Frederik Golitsch, Gunnar Sturm, Elena Kipf , André Dittrich,
Sven Kerzenmacher and Johannes Gescher
üü The heme network: Uncoupling charge and discharge mechanisms for planktonic cells
of Geobacter sulfurreducens using a Fluidised Bed Electrode.................................................. 46
Sara Tejedor, José Rodrigo, Antonio Berná, Pedro Letón, Elena Maneiro Franco,
Pilar Icaran and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
üü On the use of Raman microscopy for the study of cytochrome-based electron transport
in electrochemically active biofilms.............................................................................................. 47
Bernardino Virdis
üü On the modeling of the surface area that actually contributes to the current density
produced in microbial electrochemical systems.......................................................................... 48
A.A. Carmona-Martínez, R. Lacroix, S. Da Silva, E. Trably, and N. Bernet
Session 2. METs and water treatment (I): removal of inorganic pollutants
üü Engineering reactor microbiomes of denitrifying Bioelectrochemical Systems........................ 49
N. Pous, C. Koch, J. Colprim, J. Mühlenberg, S. Müller, F. Harnisch and S. Puig
üü Bioelectrochemical recovery of metals: where are we and where to concentrate efforts
in the framework of international criticality?................................................................................ 50
Xochitl Dominguez-Benetton, Oskar Modin, Annemiek ter-Heijne, Tom Hennebel
and Korneel Rabaey
üü Bioelectrochemical tetrathionate degradation with acidophilic microorganisms...................... 51
Mira L.K. Sulonen, Marika E. Nissilä, Aino-Maija Lakaniemi and Jaakko A. Puhakka
üü Nitrogen recovery from pig slurry in two-chamber Bioelectrochemical System (BES).............. 52
Ana Sotres, Miriam Cerrillo, Marc Viñas and August Bonmatí
Session 3. Microbial Electrochemical Synthesis
üü Bioelectrochemical reduction of CO2 to organic compounds.................................................... 53
Suman Bajracharya, Annemiek ter Heijne, Xochitl Dominguez, David Strik,
Karolien Vanbroekhoven, Cees J.N. Buisman and Deepak Pant
üü A realistic approach for electromethanogenesis: coupling carbon capture
to biogas upgrading..................................................................................................................... 54
P. Batlle-Vilanova, S.Puig, R. González-Olmos, M.D. Balaguer and J. Colprim
üü Direct biocatalysis of methane from carbon dioxide by a lithoautotrophic archaeon............... 55
P. F. Beese-Vasbender, J.– P. Grote, J. Garrelfs, F. Widdel, M. Stratmann
and K. J. J. Mayrhofer
üü Electro-fermentation: membrane electrolysis drives the rapid valorisation
of biorefinery thin stillage............................................................................................................. 56
Stephen J. Andersen, Thais Basadre, Marta Coma and Korneel Rabaey
üü Three-chamber microbial electrolysis cell as a post-treatment step to refine both biogas
and liquid effluent from anaerobic digestion............................................................................... 57
Marco Zeppilli, Alessandro Mattia, Marianna Villano and Mauro Majone
18
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 4. METs and water treatment (II): removal of organic pollutants
üü Reductive dechlorination in a pilot-scale membraneless bioelectrochemical reactor
and effect of competing reactions............................................................................................... 58
Agnese Lai, Roberta Verdini, Federico Aulenta and Mauro Majone
üü Development of on-site power generation modular system for wastewater sludge
valorisation using a combination of partial anaerobic digestion and Microbial Fuel Cell
technologies.................................................................................................................................. 59
Marta Macias Aragonés, Alejandro J. del Real Torres, Pau Bosch-Jiménez,
Eduard Borràs, Klaus Brüderle and Dieter Bryniok
üü Laccase from Trametes versicolor can help to improve the performance of Microbial Fuel
Cells and to efficiently degrade micropollutants from wastewater............................................ 60
Sabine Sané, Armin König, Richard Gminski and Sven Kerzenmacher
üü Biomass retention on electrodes rather than electrical current enhances stability
in anaerobic digestion................................................................................................................... 61
Jo De Vrieze, Sylvia Gildemyn, Jan B.A. Arends, Inka Vanwonterghem, Kim Verbeken,
Nico Boon, Willy Verstraete, Gene W. Tyson, Tom Hennebel and Korneel Rabaey
üü On the challenges of scaling up and performance assessment of bioelectrochemical
systems based on a technical scale Microbial Electrolysis Cell................................................... 62
Robert Keith Brown, Falk Harnisch, Sebastian Wirth, Helge Wahlandt, Thomas Dockhorn,
Norbert Dichtl and Uwe Schröder
Session 5. Environmental Applications & Microbial Ecology
üü Bioelectrode-based approach for enhancing nitrate and nitrite removal and electricity
generation from eutrophic lakes.................................................................................................. 63
Yifeng Zhang and Irini Angelidaki
üü An innovative bioelectrochemical approach to accelerate hydrocarbons biodegradation
in anoxic contaminated marine sediments: the “Oil-Spill Snorkel”........................................... 64
Carolina Cruz Viggi, Marco Bellagamba, Bruna Matturro, Simona Rossetti
and Federico Aulenta
üü Towards understanding interspecies communication and synergism in Pseudomonas
aeruginosa co-cultures for application in current production..................................................... 65
Erick Bosire and Miriam Rosenbaum
üü Comparison of microbial communities at full-scale hybrid Microbial Electrochemical
Constructed Wetlands (METlands) for urban wastewater treatment......................................... 66
Tristano Bacchetti De Gregoris, Arantxa Aguirre, Alejandro Reija, Antonio Berná,
Juan José Salas and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
üü From monitoring to steering microbiomes in BES using single cell analysis............................. 67
Christin Koch, Narcis Pous, Sebastia Puig, Susann Müller and Falk Harnisch
üü Effect of light on mixed community-based bioanodes............................................................... 68
Dorin-Mirel Popescu, Edward Milner, Keith Scott and Eileen Yu
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
19
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 6. System Architecture in MET
üü Microbial Fuel Cell-based Biochemical Oxygen Demand sensors............................................. 69
Martin Spurr, Eileen Yu, Keith Scott, Tom Curtis and Ian Head
üü Iron oxide nanoparticles-coated stainless steel felt: a promising anodic material
for microbial electrochemical systems......................................................................................... 70
Kun Guo, Bogdan C. Donose, Alexander H. Soeriyadi, Antonin Prévoteau,
Sunil A. Patil, Stefano Freguia, J. Justin Gooding and Korneel Rabaey
üü Maximum Power Point Tracking strategy applied to Microbial Fuel Cells to reduce
start-up time and minimize overpotentials.................................................................................. 71
Daniele Molognoni, Sebastià Puig, M. Dolors Balaguer, Alessandro Liberale,
Andrea G. Capodaglio, Arianna Callegari and Jesús Colprim
üü Granular capacitive bio-anodes in a fluidized bed reactor for scaling-up Microbial
Fuel Cells....................................................................................................................................... 72
Annemiek ter Heijne, Tom H.J.A. Sleutels, Alexandra Deeke, Bert Hamelers
and Cees J.N. Buisman
üü A novel anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactor (AnEMBR) for energy recovery
and water reclamation from low-organic strength solutions...................................................... 73
Krishna P. Katuri, Craig M. Werner, Rodrigo J. Jimenez-Sandoval, Wei Chen, Sungil Jeon,
Zhiping Lai, Gary L. Amy and Pascal E. Saikaly
üü A novel carbon nanotube modified scaffold creates an efficient biocathode material
for improved microbial electrosynthesis...................................................................................... 74
L. Jourdin, V. Flexer, J. Chen, G. G. Wallace, C. D. Bogdan, S. Freguia and J.Keller
20
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Pitch communications
Session 1. Fundamentals of Microbial Extracellular Electron Transfer
üü A new tool for modelling electroactive microbial biofilms based on direct electron transfer...... 77
Luis F. M. Rosa, Benjamin Korth, Cristian Picioreanu and Falk Harnisch
üü Electrochemical investigation of aerobic biocathodes at different poised potentials:
evidence for mediated extracellular electron transfer................................................................ 78
Edward Milner, Keith Scott, Tom Curtis, Ian Head and Eileen Yu
üü Follow the red road of cytochromes in G. sulfurreducens: a key step to understand
extracellular electron transfer pathways...................................................................................... 79
Joana M. Dantas, Ana P. Fernandes, Marta A. Silva and Carlos A. Salgueiro
Session 2. Microbial Electrochemical Synthesis
üü Combination of bioanode and biocathode for the conversion of wastes into
biocommodities using microbial electrosynthesis....................................................................... 80
A. Bridier, E. Desmond-Le Quéméner, L. Rouillac, C. Madigou, E. Blanchet, B. Erable,
A. Bergel, A. Carmona, E. Trably, N. Bernet, L. Aissani, L. Giard, L. Renvoise, A. Bize,
L. Mazeas and T. Bouchez üü Domestic wastewater treatment in parallel to methane production in a semipilot MEC......... 82
Rubén Moreno, Xiomar A. Gómez, Antonio Morán and Adrián Escapa
üü Simultaneous production and extraction of acetate from CO2 during microbial
electrosynthesis............................................................................................................................. 83
Sylvia Gildemyn, Kristof Verbeeck, Stephen Andersen and Korneel Rabaey
üü Screening for new microbial electroreduction biocatalysts........................................................ 84
Tatiana de Campos Rodrigues and Miriam Agler-Rosenbaum
Session 3. Environmental Applications & Microbial Ecology
üü Acid-tolerant microorganisms for the treatment of acid mine drainage through
MFC systems................................................................................................................................. 85
Eduardo Leiva, Vasty Zamorano, Claudia Rojas, John Regan and Ignacio Vargas
üü Unclassified γ-Proteobacteria are dominant in biofilms of high performing oxygen
reducing biocathodes................................................................................................................... 86
Michael Rothballer, Matthieu Picot, Tina Sieper, Jan B. A. Arends, Michael Schmid,
Anton Hartmann, Nico Boon, Cees Buisman, Frédéric Barrière and David P. B. T. B. Strik
üü Strategies for cleaning up ATRAZINE-polluted soils using Microbial Electroremediating
Cells (MERCs)................................................................................................................................ 87
Ainara Domínguez-Garay, José Rodrigo, Karina Boltes Espínola
and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
21
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 4. METs and water treatment (I): removal of inorganic pollutants
üü An innovative bioelectrochemical-anaerobic digestion-coupled system for in-situ ammonia
recovery and biogas enhancement: process performance and microbial ecology...................... 88
Yifeng Zhang and Irini Angelidaki
üü High performance configuration on MFC for copper recovery.................................................. 89
P. Rodenas, T. Sleutels, R.D. van der Weijden, M. Saakes, A. ter Heijne and C.J.N. Buisman
Session 5. METs and water treatment (II): removal of organic pollutants
üü Treatment of olive brine wastewater by bioelectrochemical systems........................................ 90
Antonella Marone, A. A. Carmona-Martínez, Y. Sire, E. Trably, N. Bernet and J.P. Steyer
üü Bioelectro-catalytic valorization of dark fermentation effluents by acetate oxidizing
bacteria in bioelectrochemical system (BES)............................................................................... 91
Sandipam Srikanth, Ahmed ElMekawy, Karolien Vanbroekhoven, Heleen De Wever
and Deepak Pant
üü Improved COD removal and ammonia recovery from anaerobic digestion
and bioelectrochemical integrated system (BES)........................................................................ 92
Míriam Cerrillo, Judit Oliveras, Marc Viñas and August Bonmatí
üü Scale-up of Microbial Electrolysis Cells for domestic wastewater treatment ...........................93
Adrián Escapa, Rubén Moreno, Mª Isabel San Martín and Antonio Morán
Session 6. System Architecture in MET
üü Hydrodynamic modelling for anode design in Microbial Fuel Cells........................................... 94
Albert Vilà, Sebastià Puig, M. Dolors Balaguer and Jesús Colprim.
üü Long-term evaluation of deposited polyaniline on commercial carbon felt used as anode
in Microbial Fuel Cells................................................................................................................... 95
D. Hidalgo, T. Tommasi, V. Karthikeyan, S. Bocchini and B. Ruggeri
üü Microbial Electrochemical Constructed Wetlands (METlands): design and operation
conditions for enhancing the removal of pollutants in real urban wastewater.......................... 96
Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra, Alejandro Reija, Antonio Berna, Juan José Salas
and Abraham Esteve-Nuñez
üü Development and fabrication of a stand alone, handheld biosensor system
by combining a novel carbon nanotube (CNT) microtube electrode with arabinose
sensing S. oneidensis JG410........................................................................................................ 97
Malte Heyer, Youri Gendel, Frederik Golitsch, Johannes Gescher, Matthias Wessling
and Miriam A. Rosenbaum
22
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Posters
Session 1. Fundamentals of Microbial Extracellular Electron Transfer
üü EQCM as screening tool for biofilm formation properties.........................................................101
A. Sydow, T. Krieg, M. Stöckl, K.-M. Mangold, J. Schrader and D. Holtmann
üü Electrode design by immobilization of electro active microorganisms......................................102
M. Stöckl, A. Sydow, T. Krieg, D. Holtmann, J. Schrader and K.-M. Mangold
üü BioElectroCalorimetry as a tool for exploring the fundamentals of microbial
thermodynamics............................................................................................................................103
Benjamin Korth, Luis F. M. Rosa, Hauke Harms, Thomas Maskow and Falk Harnisch
üü A novel electrochemical method for continuous, real-time monitoring of microbial kinetics...... 104
Antonin Prévoteau, Annelies Geirnaert, Jan B. A. Arends, Tom Van de Wiele
and Korneel Rabaey
üü Rapid test for testing bacterial electroactivity for oxygen reduction catalysis by the mean
of bacterial dense suspensions.....................................................................................................105
Mickaël Rimboud, Sandra Debuy, Alain Bergel and Benjamin Erable
üü Redox tuning of the catalytic activity of soluble fumarate reductases from Shewanella..........106
Catarina M. Paquete, Ivo H. Saraiva and Ricardo O. Louro
üü Exploring the molecular interactions responsible for indirect electron transfer
in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1....................................................................................................107
Catarina Paquete, Bruno M. Fonseca, Davide R. Cruz, Tiago Pereira, Isabel Pacheco,
Cláudio M. Soares and Ricardo O. Louro
üü Gram positive bacteria do it differently? Probing the molecular bases for the
efficient extracellular electron transfer performed by Thermincola potens JR..........................108
Nazua L. Costa, Hans K. Carlson, Catarina M. Paquete, John D. Coates
and Ricardo O. Louro
üü A severe reduction in the Cytochrome C content of Geobacter sulfurreducens eliminates
its capacity for extracellular electron transfer..............................................................................109
Marta Estévez-Canales, Akiyoshi Kuzume, Zulema Borjas, Michael Fueg,
Derek Lovley, Thomas Wandlowsky and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
üü New Insights in the electrochemical behavior of G. sulfurreducens and other
anode-respiring bacteria...............................................................................................................110
Rachel A. Yoho, Sudeep C. Popat and César I Torres
üü Redox profiling of G. sulfurreducens biofilms by confocal Raman microscopy.........................111
L. Robuschi, J.P. Tomba, G.D. Schrott, P.S. Bonanni, P.M. Desimone and J.P. Busalmen
üü The effect of adhesive pili on the interaction between graphite electrodes
and electrically active bacteria......................................................................................................112
Michael Lienemann, Michaela A. TerAvest, Merja Penttilä, Pertti Koukkari,
Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin and Jussi Jäntti
Session 2. METs and water treatment (I): removal of inorganic pollutants
üü Microbial Electrochemical Technologies for nitrogen recovery and removal
from wastewater............................................................................................................................113
M. Rodríguez Arredondo, P. Kuntke, A. W. Jeremiasse, T.H.J.A. Sleutels,
C.J.N. Buisman and A. ter Heijne
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
23
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 3. Microbial Electrochemical Synthesis
üü Genetic manipulation of Clostridium ljungdahlii: reduction of biomass intermediates
to tailor-made fuels.......................................................................................................................114
Bastian Molitor, Alexander W. Henrich, Thomas M. Kirchner and Miriam A. Rosenbaum
üü Tailoring Clostridium ljungdahlii for electroreduction: a whole-cell mutagenesis approach........115
T.M. Kirchner, B. Molitor, A.W. Henrich, K. Nohara, S. Schmitz, K. Kaufmann
and M.A. Rosenbaum
üü Enhancement of 1,3-propanediol production from glycerol using Bioelectrochemical Systems..116
Nikolaos Xafenias, MarySandra O. Anunobi and Valeria Mapelli
üü Renewable methanol production through enzymatic electrosynthesis in Bioelectrochemical
Systems (BES) using cascade of dehydrogenases at cathode......................................................117
Sandipam Srikanth, Xochitl Dominguez-Benetton, Yolanda Alvarez Gallego,
Karolien Vanbroekhoven and Deepak Pant
üü Microbial electrosynthesis: understanding and strengthening microbe-electrode interactions..118
Tian Zhang
üü Screening for better electroautotrophic microbes and cathode materials for microbial
electrosynthesis.............................................................................................................................119
Nabin Aryal, Pier-Luc Tremblay, Leifeng Chen, Daniel Höglund and Tian Zhang
üü Bioelectrotechnological synthesis of oxogluconic acids by Gluconobacter..............................120
Carla Gimkiewicz, Andreas Aurich, Hauke Harms and Falk Harnisch
üü Overview of the performance of a methane-producing microbial electrolysis cell aimed
at sludge production minimization...............................................................................................121
Marianna Villano, Marco Zeppilli, Federico Aulenta, Giovanni Vallini, Silvia Lampis
and Mauro Majone
üü Electrochemical syntheses with displayed enzymes on the surface of whole cells ..................122
D. Holtmann, F. W. Ströhle, E. Kranen, R. Maas and J. Schrader
üü Inhibitory effects on the cathodic bio-film of a denitrifying bio-cathode Microbial Fuel Cell......123
Abdullah-Al-Mamun and How Yong Ng
üü High hydrogen production at a very low applied potential through pH control strategies.....124
Yolanda Ruiz, Juan A. Baeza and Albert Guisasola
üü Conjugated oligoelectrolytes for autotrophic microbial electrosynthesis..................................125
Jan B. A. Arends, Sunil A. Patil, Charles Dumolin, Xiaofen Chen,
Guillermo C. Bazan and Korneel Rabaey
üü Development of a µ-Microbial Fuel Cell......................................................................................126
Milton J.S. Fernandes, Luis A. Rocha and Carla M.A.A. Carneiro
üü Characterization of photosynthetic MFCs with biocathodes......................................................127
Mónica N. Alves, Catarina M. Paquete and Ricardo O. Louro
üü Microbial electrosynthesis at elevated temperatures..................................................................128
Neda Faraghi Parapari and Karsten Zengler
24
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 4. METs and water treatment (II): removal of organic pollutants
üü Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons using bioelectrochemical systems.......................129
Adelaja Oluwaseun, Tajalli Keshavarz and Godfrey Kyazze
üü Microbial Fuel Cells as power supply of a low-power sensor.....................................................130
Firas Khaled, Olivier Ondel and Bruno Allard
üü The necessity of high Coulombic efficiency in Microbial Electrochemical Systems
for efficient energy recovery from wastewater............................................................................131
Tom H.J.A. Sleutels, Sam D. Molenaar, Cees J.N. Buisman and Annemiek ter Heijne
üü Decontamination potential of bioelectrochemical system for p-FNB removal
and mineralization at low temperature........................................................................................132
Xueqin Zhang and Huajun Feng
üü The effect of hydraulic retention time on continuous electricity production
from xylose in up-flow MFC..........................................................................................................133
Johanna M. Haavisto, Marika E. Nissilä, Chyi-How Lay and Jaakko A. Puhakka
üü Changes in anode potential and brewery wastewater treatment efficiency with different
catholytes and external resistances .............................................................................................134
Aino-Maija Lakaniemi, Marika E. Nissilä and Jaakko A. Puhakka
üü Biodegradation of phenolic compounds in contaminated groundwater
using Microbial Fuel Cells.............................................................................................................135
Petra Hedbavna, Steven F. Thornton and Wei E. Huang
üü Long-term performance of primary and secondary electroactive biofilms using layered
corrugated carbon electrodes......................................................................................................136
Sebastian Riedl, André Baudler and Uwe Schröder
üü Air cathode Microbial Fuel Cells to recover energy from volatile fatty acids
from an effluent of a hydrolytitc-acidogenic anaerobic digester of wastewater sludge ..........137
P. Bosch-Jiménez, E. Borràs, K. Brüderle; E. Torralba, D. Gutiérrez, R. Shechter
and A. Surribas
üü Metals as anode material in Bioelectrochemical Systems...........................................................138
André Baudler, Igor Schmidt, Markus Langner, Andreas Greiner and Uwe Schröder
üü Microbial reductive dechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) with graphite
electrodes serving as electron donors.........................................................................................139
Patrícia Leitão, Simona Rossetti, Henri Nouws, Anthony S. Danko, Mauro Majone
and Federico Aulenta
üü Influence of the electron acceptor availability in the electricity generation of a Microbial
Fuel Cell.........................................................................................................................................140
Sara Mateo, Pablo Cañizares, Manuel A. Rodrigo and Francisco J. Fernández
üü Use of endogenous microflora to obtain electric power from waste-to-bioethanol slurry
in Microbial Fuel Cells...................................................................................................................141
R.A. Nastro, D. Hodgson, V. Pasquale, S. Dumontet, M. Bushell and C. Avignone-Rossa
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
25
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 5. Environmental Applications & Microbial Ecology
üü Biodegradation behaviour of Microbial Fuel Cell-applied sludge after electricity generation....142
Narong Touch, Tadashi Hibino, Yoshiyuki Nagatsu and Isse Kano
üü Studying microbial aggregation and biofilm formation: an integrated approach.....................143
Gal Schkolnik, Falk Harnisch, Niculina Musat, Matthias Schroeter, Hans-Herman Richnow,
Hauke Harms, Stephan Herminghaus and Marco G. Mazza
üü Salinity and flow velocity effects of catholyte on sediment Microbial Fuel Cell performance.. 144
Yoshiyuki Nagatsu, Tadashi Hibino, Nobutaka Kinjo and Kenta Mizumoto
üü Engineering Pseudomonas putida for oxygen-limited redox balancing with an anode
for biotechnological application...................................................................................................145
Simone Schmitz, Salome Nies, Nick Wierckx, Lars M. Blank and Miriam A. Rosenbaum
üü A novel CoRuSe oxygen reduction catalyst for power generation in Microbial Fuel Cells.......146
Shmuel Rozenfeld, Alex Schechter and Rivka Cahan
üü Microbial bioanode for toluene degradation in marine environments......................................147
Matteo Daghio, Eleni Vaiopoulou, Sunil A. Patil, Andrea Franzetti and Korneel Rabaey
üü Characterization and interactions of multi-species biofilm community under
different electrochemical parameters in Microbial Fuel Cells.....................................................148
Anna Prokhorova, Kerstin Dolch and Johannes Gescher
üü The performance of microbial anodes in municipal waste water: pre-grown multispecies
biofilm vs. natural inocula.............................................................................................................149
Joana Danzer, Anna Prokhorova, Kerstin Dolch , Johannes Gescher
and Sven Kerzenmacher
üü Microbiology of soil and sediment Microbial Fuel Cells.............................................................150
Angela Cabezas, Sofía Lawlor, Victoria Falco and Javier Menes
üü Variations on Serratia Microbial Fuel Cell dual chamber performance......................................151
Ricardo J.H. Conceição and Carla M.A.A. Carneiro
üü Electricity production with living plants on a green roof: technological performance
of the Plant Microbial Fuel Cell....................................................................................................152
Koen Wetser, Marjolein Helder, Cees Buisman and David Strik
üü Microbial communites associated to current production from biohydrogen reactor effluent..... 153
Jorge Wenzel, Laura Fuentes, Ángela Cabezas and Claudia Etchebehere
üü Extreme environments of Northern Chile as new sources of exoelectrotrophic
microorganisms.............................................................................................................................154
Javiera Anguita, Cristóbal Alvear, Eduardo Leiva, Claudia Rojas, John Regan,
Robert Nerenberg and Ignacio Vargas
üü Discovering novel exoelectrogen from Red Sea.........................................................................155
Noura A. Shehab, Gary L. Amy and Pascal E. Saikaly
üü Electroactive bacteria selection by multi-stage culture gradostat system.................................156
Zulema Borjas, Juan Manuel Ortíz, Amor Larrosa and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
üü Microbial Electroremediating Cells (MERC): strategies to biominerilized C herbicides
in soils by stimulating microbial electrogenic communities........................................................157
José Rodrigo, Ainara Domínguez-Garay, Reiner Schroll and Abraham Esteve-Núñez
26
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Session 6. System Architecture in MET
üü A novel amperometric BOD sensor based on Geobacter-dominated biofilms........................158
Audrey Commault, Gavin Lear and Richard J. Weld
üü DoE based process design for bioelectrochemical applications................................................159
T. Krieg, A. Sydow, M. Stöckl, D. Kleine, T. Zschernitz, J. Schrader and D. Holtmann
üü Anode materials for Microbial Fuel Cells – high tech vs. low cost.............................................160
Andreas Vogl, Elena Michel, Franz Bischof and Marc Wichern
üü Electrolytic membrane extraction enables fine chemical production from biorefinery
sidestreams...................................................................................................................................161
Stephen J Andersen, Tom Hennebel, Sylvia Gildemyn, Marta Coma,
Joachim Desloover, Jan Berton, Junko Tsukamoto, Christian Stevens and Korneel Rabaey
üü Microbial desalination cell using an alternative electron acceptor in cathode chamber:
experimental results and theoretical behaviour..........................................................................162
J.M. Ortiz, A Larrosa-Guerrero, Z. Borjas, E. Maneiro and A. Esteve-Nuñez
üü A dynamic 2d mathematical model for tubular-air cathode Microbial Fuel Cells using
conduction-based approach for electrons transfer to the biofilm and volatile fatty acids
as substrate....................................................................................................................................163
Marta Macias Aragonés, Carlos Leyva Guerrero and Alejandro J. del Real Torres
üü Scaled-up Microbial Fuel Cells for swine manure treatment and bioenergy production..........164
A.Vilajeliu-Pons, S. Puig, I. Salcedo-Dávila, M.D.Balaguer, and J. Colprim
üü Effect of hydrodynamics on MFC microbial community.............................................................165
A.Vilajeliu-Pons, S. Puig, A. Vilà, D. Molognoni, L. Bañeras, M.D. Balaguer
and J. Colprim.
üü An air-breathing cathode based on buckypaper electrodes with reversibly
adsorbed laccase...........................................................................................................................166
Elena Kipf, Thorsten Messinger, Sabine Sané and Sven Kerzenmacher
üü The different roles of the cathodic biofilm in air cathode Microbial Fuel Cells.........................167
Laura Rago, Nuria Montpart, Juan Antonio Baeza and Albert Guisasola
üü A comparative study of the performance of commercial carbon felt and the innovative
carbon-coated Berl saddles as anode electrode in MFC............................................................168
D. Hidalgo, T. Tommasi, V. Karthikeyan and B. Ruggeri
üü Fabrication of high surface area carbon electrodes with tunable and well defined
properties by electrospinning.......................................................................................................169
Johannes Erben, Sven Kerzenmacher and Simon Thiele
üü Microbial acclimation to concentrated human urine in Bio-electrochemical System................170
S.G.Barbosa, L. Peixoto, A. Pereira, A. Ter Heijne, P. Kuntke and M.M. Alves
üü Influence of anodic electrode surface properties on bacterial colonization and biofilm
formation in Microbial Electrochemical Cells...............................................................................171
Veer Raghavulu Sapireddy and Dónal Leech
üü Influence of cathode to anode surface ratio on the electrical output generated by MFCs
implemented in constructed wetlands during the treatment of domestic wastewater............172
Clara Corbella and Jaume Puigagut
üü Contribution of macrophytes to the electrical output generated by MFCs implemented
in constructed wetlands during the treatment of domestic wastewater...................................173
Clara Corbella and Jaume Puigagut
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
27
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
üü A new concept in METlands: assessment of vertical flow electrogenic biofilters......................174
Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra, Carlos Aragón, Antonio Berná, Amanda Prado,
Juan Ramón Pidré, Juan José Salas and Abraham Esteve-Nuñez
üü Disposable alginate/graphite matrices with trapped bacteria
for electrochemical bioassays.......................................................................................................175
F. Pujol-Vila, A.E. Guerrero-Navarro, N. Vigués, X. Muñoz-Berbel and J. Mas
28
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
INVITED
CONFERENCES
Microbial electrosynthesis - electricity
driven bioproduction and extraction
Sylvia Gildemyn, Kristof Verbeeck, Stephen Andersen and Korneel Rabaey (*)
Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653,
9000 Ghent, Belgium. Tel. +3292645976.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial electrosynthesis enables the conversion of CO2 to organic fuels and chemicals using
renewable power. Particularly in a European context, where the advent of wind and solar has
brought an increased availability of excess power, using this power to convert CO2 brings a
double advantage. Several studies in the past year have shown the feasibility of CO2 derived
bioproduction using this approach, however the titers of the formed acetate is typically low,
of the order of gram per litre. For conventional extraction approaches, this titer is too low and
thus engineering of the microorganisms is required to amend this. To avoid excessive titer
requirements, one can use the intrinsic ability of the microbial bioelectrochemical system (BES) to
extract the products from the cathode to the anode across an anion exchange membrane. Such
an approach was recently demonstrated for fermentation broths on thin stillage (Andersen et
al.). Here I will present a modified approach in which acetate produced from CO2 in the cathode
compartment of a three-compartment BES is extracted into a middle chamber, separated from
the anode compartment via a cation exchange membrane. This approach avoids possible
oxidation of acetic acid at the anode or reaction with electrogenerated chlorine. In a second
example, I will also discuss the feasibility of generating caproate through fermentation and chain
elongation, and the subsequent extraction using an electrochemical cell.
References:
[1] Andersen, S. J., T. Hennebel, S. Gildemyn, M. Coma, J. Desloover, J. Berton, J. Tsukamoto, C. Stevens,
and K. Rabaey. 2014. Electrolytic Membrane Extraction Enables Production of Fine Chemicals from
Biorefinery Sidestreams. Environmental Science & Technology 48:7135-7142.
[2] Sylvia Gildemyn, Kristof Verbeeck, Kun Guo, Laure Lapinsonnière, Stephen Andersen, Fréderic
Barrière, Korneel Rabaey. Simultaneous microbial electrosynthesis and membrane electrolysis for
production and extraction of acetate from CO2. Submitted.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
31
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-01
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-02
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electrochemical, AFM, and single-cell
resolution Raman analysis
of anode-grown Geobacter
sulfurreducens biofilms early in growth
Nikolai Lebedev, Sarah M. Strycharz-Glaven and Leonard M. Tender
Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington,
DC, USA
Here we report on two studies involving early growth anode-grown Geobacter sulfurreducens
biofilms. In the first AFM and single-cell resolution confocal resonance Raman microscopy
(CRRM) were used to study transition of from lag phase (initial period of low current) to
exponential phase (subsequent period of rapidly increasing current). The results indicate lag
phase biofilms consist of lone cells and tightly packed single-cell thick clusters crisscrossed
with extracellular filament where abundance of c-type cytochromes (c-Cyts) is similar for both
cell types. By early exponential phase, cell clusters have expanded latterly and second layer
of closely packed cells begins to form on top of the first where c-Cyts abundance is 4 to
5-fold greater in 2-cell thick regions. The results indicate the transition from lag phase to
exponential phase involves at least two key transformations: 1) from lone cells to 2-dimenisally
associated cells during lag phase accompanied by formation of extracellular filaments, where
current remains low; 2) from 2- to 3-dimensionally associated cells during early exponential
phase, accompanied by increased abundance of c-Cyts, where current begins to increase.
In the second study, Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms were grown to early exponential
phase on Interdigited microelectrode arrays (IDAs). Microscopy revealed sparse cell clusters
surrounded by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Continuous domains of EPS, but not
of cell clusters, were observed bridging gaps between adjacent electrodes. Electrochemical
gate measurements indicate electrical continuity between adjacent IDA electrodes. The
dependency on gate potential of conducted current is peak shaped suggesting that the EPS
is a redox conductor. 32
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
Contactless extracellular electron
transfer-molecular details
of the interaction between
outer membrane cytochromes
and soluble redox shuttles
Ricardo O. Louro
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da
República, EAN, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
Email: [email protected]
Dissimilatory metal reducing organisms are at the core of the development of BioElectrochemical Technologies (BETs). However, much remains to be known concerning the
molecular mechanisms that support electron transfer across the microbe-metal interface in
these organisms. Outer membrane proteins, in particular multiheme cytochromes, are essential
for extracellular electron transfer, being responsible for direct and indirect, via electron
shuttles, interaction with the insoluble electron acceptors. Soluble electron shuttles such as
flavins, phenazines and humic acids are known to enhance extracellular electron transfer. The
interactions of these soluble electron shuttles with all known outer membrane decaheme
cytochromes from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 reported to have metal terminal reductase
activity were studied. Stopped-flow kinetics, NMR spectroscopy and molecular simulations
show that despite the structural similarities, expected from the available structural data and
sequence homology, the detailed characteristics of their interactions with soluble electron
shuttles are different. MtrC and OmcA appear to interact with a variety of different electron
shuttles in the close vicinity of some of their hemes, and with affinities that are biologically
relevant for the concentrations typical found in the medium for this type of compounds. A clear
structural characterization of the interactions of soluble electron shuttles with OmcA and with
MtrF was achieved. The results showed that although these proteins are highly homologous
to each other, they present distinct modes of interaction with extracellular electron shuttles,
shedding light into functional specificity of the outer membrane oxidoreductases responsible
for extracellular electron transfer. This knowledge on the detailed molecular mechanisms
performed by these important proteins in extracellular respiration of SOMR1 provides
guidance to the rational optimization of BETs.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
33
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-03
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-04
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
ValuefromUrine, an interesting
business case
Martin Bijmans (1), M. Rodríguez Arredondo (1,2), P. Kuntke (1), M. Saakes (1), C.J.N. Buisman (1,2)
and A. ter Heijne (2)
1. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Oostergoweg 7, 8911 MA
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Humankind relies on the use of artificial fertilizers to ensure safety of the food supply. Especially
large quantities of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) based fertilizers are applied annually. They
are produced by energy intensive processes. Next to the energy consumption, the availability
and quality of phosphate-rock - the raw material for phosphate fertilizer production - are
of a big concern. On the other side, household wastewater contains N and P compounds
and could be used as a source for these valuable compounds. In conventional wastewater
treatment plants large amounts of energy is required for the removal of nutrients (i.e. N and
P). Most of these nutrients in wastewater originate from urine, but urine only contributes small
volume fraction of this wastewater. High nutrient concentrations can be found in urine when it
is collected separately from other wastewater streams. Using a process combination of struvite
precipitation for phosphate recovery and NH4+ recovery by a BES makes it possible to recover
these nutrients in an economical and energetically sound way. The presentation will both show
the energy and cost involved in current and possible future scenario’s involving BES.
34
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
Bioelectrochemical systems
for metal recovery
Annemiek ter Heijne (1,*), Pau Rodenas Motos (2), Roel J.W. Meulepas (2),
Martin F.M. Bijmans (2), Tom H.J.A. Sleutels (2) and Cees J.N. Buisman (1,2)
1. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
2. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1113, 8900
CC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Metals are commonly removed from wastewater by precipitation, e.g. with slaked lime, resulting
in the production of large amounts of with metal contaminated waste. The annual global
production of mine wastes has been estimated at approximately 15,000-20,000 million tons.
This paper presents a novel process to recover metals from metallurgical waste or process water.
The process is driven by the chemical energy present in waste streams that contain reduced
compounds, like organics or sulphide. The process comprises an electrochemical cell in which
the anode and cathode are separated by a membrane. At the anode, electrochemically-active
microorganisms oxidise the organic matter or reduced sulphur compounds. At the cathode,
dissolved metals are reduced to their elemental form, similar to electrowinning. Because
the potential for organic matter or sulphide oxidation is lower than the potential for copper
reduction the reaction is spontaneous.
Anode:
HS- → Sº + H+ + 2e-
C2H3O2- + 4 H2O → 2 HCO3- + 9 H+ + 8 e-
E0= -0.06 V vs NHE
E0 = 0.19 V vs NHE
Cathode:
Cu2+ + 2e- → Cu(s)
E0 = 0.34 V vs NHE
Bioelectrochemical metal recovery has the potential to reduce waste production and increase
the metal yield without additional energy costs.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
35
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-05
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-06
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial electrosynthesis:
understanding and strengthening
microbe-electrode interactions
Tian Zhang
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark
Kogle Allè 6 Scion DTU, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark
Powering microbes with electrical energy to produce valuable commodities is a new concept
and a potential alternative to a petroleum-based economy. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES)
is a novel bioproduction process in which microbes reduce CO2 to multicarbon organics using
electrical current. MES has tremendous potential for the storage of energy into covalent
chemical bonds of commercially viable products without the need for arable land and has
the flexibility to be coupled with electricity from renewable resources. In the long term, this
technology will enable the European Union to cut greenhouse gas emissions, develop new
energy sources and make it less dependent on imported energy. Key to the success of the
MES process is effective electrical connection between bacterial cells and electrode surface.
However, low electron transfer rate from electrochemical hardware to microbial platforms,
unknown electron transfer mechanism, and poor adherence of microorganisms on the
electrode has been the main obstacles to commercialization to date. Developing genetic
systems for known electroautotrophs, screening for better MES chassis organisms and superior
electrochemical hardware, establishing alternative MES processes relying on multi-cultures and
investigating extracellular electron transfer from the cathode to the microbes are some of the
strategies that we are implementing to transform MES into a commercially viable technology.
36
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
How are MET in bed? From fixed
to mobile
Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,2)
1. University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
2. IMDEA WATER, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
After a long trip of exhaustive and deep analysis of metabolic pathways in living cells, the
whole picture of how bacteria use the source of energy or respire substrates has been shocked
during the last decade. Associated to redox reactions involved in microbial bioenergetics,
there were always substrates donating or accepting electrons. In spite of this fact, can bacteria
manage to cope with “naked” electrons instead of extracting them from organic substrates.
The recent finding of microorganisms able to have a direct redox communication with a solid
conductive material makes us to open our mind to novel and unpredicted scenarios.
The possibility of deconstructing flavors and textures in food as a part of the nouvelle cuisine
may show now an analogy in the microbial redox reactions. The so-called microbial exocellular
electron transfer (EET) opens the microbiology and the electrochemistry to a novel field where
the electron –as flavor of the redox reaction- can be isolated and managed in different context
that was initially conceived. Microbial EET were initially proposed in a renewable energy
context by using the so-called Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) for converting wastewater into
clean energy.
MFCs for energy production show a recognized technical limitation regarding scaling
up if a power producing device is the final goal. However, its potential for enhancing the
biodegradation rates is already a proved fact that may change the way we treat wastewater.
In this context, EET can be adapted to well known strategies to treat wastewater by using
different kind of beds of inert particles where biofilm can be formed. Now, electrochemistry
is providing a novel form of bed with includes an electrically conductive nature not typically
assayed in standard wastewater treatment plants. So thus, this conductive biofilter can be
adapted to standard fuel cells with filter press design or can be adapted to devices as large
as wetlands to generate a new hybrid technology. Although microbial electrochemistry have
been classically linked to biofilm activity, the bed should not be necessarily fixed and the most
recent research show a scenario where mobile beds with a fluidized nature are also possible.
Our aim is to present and discuss a number of conductive bed bioassays at different scale,
including full-scale treatments, that have been developed by Bioe group from University of
Alcalá and IMDEA WATER.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
37
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-07
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-08
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial hydrolysis and its role
in microbial electrochemistry applications
Dongwon Ky (2), Bradley Lusk (1), Prathap Parameswaran (1), Sudeep C. Popat (1)
and César I Torres (3,*)
1. Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University
2. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, USA
3. School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, USA
*. Email: [email protected]
The use of solid organic compounds in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) requires a complex
microbial community to hydrolyze and ferment the solids into simple substrates utilizable
for anode-respiring bacteria (ARB). In turn, ARB, being efficient consumers of fermentation
products, can accelerate hydrolysis rates by consuming fermentation products. In this
presentation, two different MEC studies in which hydrolysis plays an important role, are
discussed. First, a comparison between fermentation, methanogenesis and an MEC using
wastewater primary sludge (PS) reveals important changes in hydrolysis rates. Fermentative
systems hydrolyzed the PS at a slower rate than the methanogenic and MEC systems. Hydrolysis
rates were similar in the latter two systems in the early days of batch experimentation. However,
the MEC system resulted in a faster hydrolysis and a better digestion of PS by the end of the
experiment. Second, a thermophilic MEC fed with cellulose was inoculated with a co-culture
of Clostridium thermocellum and Thermincola ferriacetica. Cellulose hydrolysis rates were
significantly faster in the co-culture than in batch experiments with C. thermocellum alone. The
use of thermophilic bacteria, capable of faster hydrolysis rates, led to high current densities
(> 7 A/m2) compared to mesophilic studies. In both MEC studies, hydrolysis rates played a
significant role in the overall MEC performance, outlining the importance of hydrolytic bacteria
in MECs.
38
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
A single sediment Microbial Fuel Cell
powering a wireless
telecommunication system
Y. R. J. Thomas (1), M. Picot (1), A. Carer (2), O. Berder (2), O. Sentieys (2) and F. Barrière (1)
1. Université de Rennes 1, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, Campus de Beaulieu,
35042 Rennes, France
2. Université de Rennes 1, IRISA, INRIA, Equipe Cairn
We report the ability of a single sediment-Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) to power Wireless Sensor
Network nodes [1]. Such a system is able to collect information from sensors and to transmit
it to sinks. In particular, the PowWow platform presented here [2] is combining an open and
modular hardware design with an open-source software with a very light memory footprint and
relying on event-driven programming. It includes energy harvesting capabilities and is able to
adapt its radio data transmission behavior to the available energy supplied by the sedimentMFC. The MFC developed in this study successfully powered the WSN and results showed
very stable performances over a long time frame with a high rate of signals sent from a source
to a receptor connected to a computer. This sediment-MFC is moreover simple to produce
and handle, with no membrane or artificial catalysts. Perspectives for higher performing and
fully biological devices include the tailoring of the biofilm-electrode interface, especially at
cathodes where electroactive bacteria can catalytically reduce dioxygen [3-5].
Keywords: Sediment-Microbial Fuel Cell; Sensor Networks; Wireless Communication
References:
[1] Thomas Y. R. J., Picot M., Carer A., Berder O., Sentieys O. and Barrière F., (2013), A single sedimentMicrobial Fuel Cell powering a wireless telecommunication system, J. Power Sources, 241, 703-708.
[2] http://powwow.gforge.inria.fr/
[3] Lapinsonnière L., Picot M. and Barrière F., (2012), Enzymatic versus Microbial bio-catalyzed electrodes
in bio-electrochemical systems, ChemSusChem, 5, 995-1005.
[4] Picot M., Lapinsonnière L., Rothballer M. and Barrière F., (2001), Graphite anode surface modification
with controlled reduction of specific aryl diazonium salts for improved Microbial Fuel Cells power
output, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 28, 181-188.
[5] M. Rothballer, M. Picot, T. Sieper, J. B. A. Arends, M. Schmid, A. Hartmann, N. Boon, C. Buisman,
F. Barrière, D. P. B. T. B. Strik (2014), Unclassified γ-Proteobacteria are dominant in biofilms of high
performing oxygen reducing biocathodes, Energy and Environmental Science, (submitted).
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
39
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-09
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-10
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Effective wastewater treament using
Microbial Fuel Cells and Anaerobic
Fluidized Bed Membrane Bioreactors
Bruce Logan
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Penn State University, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
The ability of certain microorganisms to transfer electrons outside the cell has created
opportunities for new methods of renewable energy generation based on Microbial Fuel Cells
(MFCs) that can be used to produce electrical power, and other microbial electrochemical
METs) that can be used to produce hydrogen and methane gases, accomplish water
desalination, capture nutrients, or produce chemicals. When wastewater is used as the fuel
for these systems, METs must also accomplish effective treatment. In this presentation, I
show that MFCs can be used for domestic wastewater treatment, but the extent of treatment
with current generation can be limited. As the concentration of organic matter, measured
as chemical oxygen demand (COD), decreases in the wastewater, current generation also
decreases. As a result, below a COD of ~100 mg/L, there is little current or power generation
even though COD will continue to be removed over time. To accomplish effective wastewater
treatment additional (secondary) treatment processes are therefore needed. It is shown that an
Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactor (AFMBR) can be used to effectively treat effluent
from an MFC. The main advantage of the AFMBR was little fouling of the membrane over a
two-month period (no chemical cleaning was needed). At a low transmembrane pressure of
<0.05 bar, there was a relatively high water flux of up to 16 LMH. The effluent from the AFMBR
contained <17 mg-COD/L and <1 g-TSS/L, with a 1 h hydraulic retention time. The advances
made in reducing the costs of MET electrodes, improved power densities over time, and now
effective wastewater treatment using the AFMBR demonstrates that METs can be used for
commercial wastewater treatment applications. [Oral Presentation]
40
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
The development of microbial
electrochemical technologies
and the need for terminology
and classification
Uwe Schröder (1), Falk Harnisch (2) and Largus T. Angenent (3,*)
1. Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry,
Germany, email: E-mail: [email protected]
2. UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology,
Leipzig, Germany, email: E-mail: [email protected]
3. Cornell University, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Ithaca, USA.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial electrochemistry is the study and application of interactions between microbial cells
and electron conductors (electrodes). For a long time this field of bioelectrochemistry has
been the interest of mainly fundamental researchers. This has significantly changed during the
last decade and microbial electrochemistry gained increasing interest from applied researchers
and engineers. These researchers developed microbial fuel cells (MFCs), i.e. devices allowing
the conversion of organic material in wastewater into electric power, from a concept to a
technology. In addition, a plethora of derivative technologies, such as microbial electrolysis
cells (MECs), microbial desalination cells (MDCs), photomicrobial fuel cells (photoMFCs), and
microbial batteries, have been introduced. The rapid growth in the development and the
interdisciplinarity leads to an ever-growing number of concepts, applications and termini,
making it increasingly difficult to classify the technologies under research. Within this
contribution we make the attempt to introduce a classification of technologies based on
interfacing microbiology and electrochemistry.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
41
INVITED CONFERENCES IS-11
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
ORAL
COMMUNICATIONS
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Unbalanced fermentation in Escherichia
coli by heterologous production
of an electron transport chain
and electrode-interaction in Microbial
Electrochemical Cells
1. Institute for Applied Biosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
2. Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK – Department of Microsystems Engineering,
University of Freiburg, Germany
3. Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial Electrochemical Cells (MEC) are an emerging technology for the realization of
unbalanced fermentation. However, the number of exoelectrogenic organisms acting as
potential biocatalysts for this type of application is rather limited due to their narrow substrate
spectrum. Escherichia coli is the best understood microorganism so far. It is metabolically
versatile and genetically easy tractable.
This study describes the process of reprogramming E. coli for efficient use of anodes as
electron acceptor. Electron transfer into the periplasm of E. coli was accelerated by 89%
via heterologous expression of the three c-type cytochromes CymA, MtrA and STC from
the exoelectrogenic organism Shewanella oneidensis. STC was identified as a target for
heterologous expression by a two stage screening approach. First, mass spectrometric analysis
was conducted to identify natively expressed periplasmic cytochromes in S. oneidensis under
conditions of extracellular respiration. Corresponding genes were cloned and tested for activity
in E. coli using a novel assay that is based on the continuous quantification of methylene blue
reduction in cell suspensions. Periplasmic electron transfer could be extended to a carbon
electrode surface using methylene blue as redox shuttle. Results from first MEC experiments
revealed a shift in the fermentation product spectrum towards more oxidized end-products. In
this context a new reactor setup was designed to optimize the analysis of volatile fermentation
products. Previous experiments demonstrated that glycerol fermentation of E. coli can be
improved by co-cultivation with Methanobacterium formicicum [1]. Although methanogens are
undesirable in most MEC applications it was shown that the glycerol consumption during the
described unbalanced fermentation process could be improved by co-cultivation. Furthermore
relevant amounts of current and methane were produced.
These results clearly demonstrate that the production of a new electron transport chain enables
E. coli to perform an unbalanced glycerol fermentation which could offer new opportunities
for biotechnological applications.
References:
[1] Richter, K. and Gescher, J. (2014). ”Accelerated glycerol fermentation in Escherichia coli using
methanogenic formate consumption”. Bioresource Technology
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
45
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-01
Katrin Richter (1), Frederik Golitsch (1), Gunnar Sturm (1), Elena Kipf (2), André Dittrich (3),
Sven Kerzenmacher (2) and Johannes Gescher (1,*)
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The heme network: Uncoupling charge
and discharge mechanisms for planktonic
cells of Geobacter sulfurreducens using
a Fluidised Bed Electrode
Sara Tejedor (1,*), José Rodrigo (2), Antonio Berná (2), Pedro Letón (2), Elena Maneiro Franco (1),
Pilar Icaran (1) and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (2,3)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-02
1. FCC Aqualia, S.A., Avda. del Camino de Santiago, 40. 28050 Madrid, Spain.
2. Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
3. IMDEA Water, Parque Tecnológico de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The ability of Geobacter sulfurreducens for charging electrons in the heme network, followed by
a instantaneous discharge in presence of extracellular electron acceptor, was reported and named
under the term capacitor-like [1] due to its analogy with the well known electronic component used
to store energy. This interesting physiology has been also shown after exploring the interaction
biofilm-electrode [2]. The authors have explored now the electron storage concept by using,
for first time, a fluid-like anode and plantonik cells of Geobacter sulfurreducens in a Microbial
Fluidised Electrochemical Bed Reactor (M-FEBR). In this system, the anode is a conductive bed
made of electrically conductive microparticles contacting by frequent collisions between them and
a polarised current collector, performing continuous charging-discharging processes. The M-FEBR
maximizes the cell-electrode contact due to the proper mixing over other contacting methods in
which the anode is fully suspended in a medium. The elimination of radial and axial concentration
gradients also allows for better fluid-solid contact, which is essential for reaction efficiency. The
reactor consisted of a column of 0,6 L of working volume in which the conductive bed was fluidised
by a recirculation flow. The capacitor-like effect of the heme-network of cytochromes was explored
by chronopotenciometry, chronoamperometry and cyclic voltametric analysis with plantonik cells
of Geobacter sulfurreducens pre-cultured in a chemostat under electron acceptor-limitation, a
condition where cells become electroactive. Maximum current densities of 0,25 mA/(g-graphite)
and 0,17 mA/(g-activated carbon) were achieved operating the reactor at batch mode. The
recirculation flow and consequently the bed expansion were correlated with the harvested current.
This electron storage phenomenon was proportional to the open circuit period (charge period).
Moreover, discharge kinetics of heme-network was calculated at different redox potential and it
was shown to correlate with the heme-network content of the cells. Interestingly, the this effect
was strongly inhibited when cytochrome C-free Geobacter cells were used in combination with
the fluidized conductive bed. In conclusion, our result reveals the fluidised conductive bed as a
new tool for exploring electron transfer mechanisms in electrogenic plantonik bacteria in absence
of a mature electroactive biofilm.
References:
[1] Esteve-Núñez, A.; Sosnik, J.; P. Visconti and D. R. Lovley (2008) Fluorescent properties of c-type
cytochromes reveal their potential role as an extracytoplasmic electron sink in Geobacter
sulfurreducens. Environ Microbiol, 10, 497-505
[2] Schrott, G. D.; Bonanni, P. S.; Robuschi, L.; Esteve-Núñez, A. and Busalmen, J.P. (2011) Electrochemical
insight into the mechanism of electron transport in biofilms of Geobacter sulfurreducens.
Electrochimica Acta. 56, 10791-10795
46
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
On the use of Raman microscopy
for the study of cytochrome-based
electron transport in electrochemically
active biofilms
Bernardino Virdis
Extracellular electron transfer allows microbes to interact electrically with each other and with
solid surfaces such as metal oxides and electrodes. This process is fundamental in regulating
natural geochemical cycles, and can have very detrimental consequences to man-made
devices, for example in the case of microbiologically-influenced corrosion. Notably, these
organisms can be used in bioelectrochemical systems electrodes to transform chemical
energy into electric energy, and viceversa. In spite of strong economical and environmental
drivers, implementation of bioelectrochemical systems to full-scale is hampered by the poor
understanding of how electrons move over distances much larger than microbial cell’s size,
when microbes are arranged to form electroactive biofilms. While biomolecules and redox
cofactors responsible for electron transfer have been to a great extent identified, the actual
mechanisms of electron transfer remains intensely debated.
Here, I present a method based on Raman microscopy, a non-disruptive spectroscopy
technique, which proves as very effective for investigations of cytochrome-based extracellular
electron transfer reactions. When used in combination of other electrochemical methods,
the technique is capable of: 1) characterize the morphology and biochemical composition
of the biofilms [1]; and 2) probe variations of the redox state of the main redox cofactors in
living electroactive biofilms in their physiological environment, without sample manipulation
or fixation [2].
References:
[1] Virdis, B.; Harnisch, F.; Batstone, D. J.; Rabaey, K.; Donose, B. C. Energ Environ Sci 2012, 5, 7017–
7024
[2] Virdis, B.; Millo, D.; Donose, B. C.; Batstone, D. J. PLoS ONE 2014, 9, e89918
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
47
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-03
The University of Queensland, Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis (CEMES), Level 4, Gehrmann
Building (60), Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. T. +61 7 3346 3218 - F. +61 7 3365 4726 - E.
E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
On the modeling of the surface area
that actually contributes
to the current density produced
in microbial electrochemical systems
A.A. Carmona-Martínez (1,*), R. Lacroix (2), S. Da Silva (2), E. Trably (1) and N. Bernet (1)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS S OC-04
1. INRA, UR0050, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l’Environnement, Avenue des Etangs,
Narbonne, F-11100, France.
2. 6T-MIC Ingénieries, 4 Rue Brindejonc des Moulinais, 31500 Toulouse, France
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Although the calculation of the maximum current density (jmax) is a widely accepted parameter
to evaluate the performance of anodic biofilms in microbial electrochemical systems [1], jmax is
occasionally calculated neglecting the surface of the anode that is opposite to the cathode;
especially in experimental set-ups where a two-side planar anode is used in parallel to a cathode.
Therefore, the objective of this work was to assess the contribution on jmax by both surfaces of
a two-side planar anode, i.e., the surface that directly faces (A1) or opposes (A2) the cathode.
To accomplish this, planar anodes were chronoamperometrically (CA) controlled at +200 mV
vs. SCE on which the growth of anodic biofilms of Geoalkalibacter subterraneus [2] was limited
by insulating one of the two available surfaces of the anode material. Their performance was
evaluated with respect to their: jmax by CA, electron transfer mechanism (ETM) by turnover
cyclic voltammetry (CV) and biofilm formation by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).
Moreover, the surface contribution on jmax was later modeled with the software Comsol®.
In multiple replicates, biofilm growth was clearly illustrated as an exponential-like current trend
characteristic of high current producing biofilms. Here, jmax for A1 and A2 showed very similar
values of 2.60±0.01 and 2.57±0.07 A/m2, respectively. On the other side, turnover CV was
employed to evaluate whether the ETM of G. subterraneus was dependent on the anode surface
orientation. For A1 and A2 there was a clear sigmoidal CV shape characteristic of a direct ETM
with an inflection point at -475±1 mV indicating no effect as a result of the electrode surface
orientation. CLSM confirmed that the observed electrochemical similarities between A1 and A2
were caused by their respective biofilm thicknesses (76±7 and 71±12 μm).
Finally, with the modeling of jmax by Comsol® it was corroborated that both electrode surfaces
evenly contribute to the overall performance of the system as long as they are equally exposed
to the electrolyte solution. Therefore, it is strongly recommend that when utilizing planar
anodes as part of the experimental set-up, the totality of the electrode surface is considered
for the calculation of jmax.
References:
[1] Sharma, M.; Bajracharya, S.; Gildemyn, S.; Patil, S. A.; Alvarez-Gallego, Y.; Pant, D.; Rabaey, K.;
Dominguez-Benetton, X., A critical revisit of the key parameters used to describe microbial
electrochemical systems. Electrochim. Acta 2014, In Press.
[2] Carmona-Martínez, A.A.; Pierra, M.; Trably, E.; Bernet, N., High current density via direct electron
transfer by the halophilic anode respiring bacterium Geoalkalibacter subterraneus. PCCP 2013, 15,
(45), 19699-19707.
48
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Engineering reactor
microbiomes of denitrifying
Bioelectrochemical Systems
N. Pous (1,*), C. Koch (2), J. Colprim (1), J. Mühlenberg (3), S. Müller (2), F. Harnisch (2)
and S. Puig (1)
Bioelectrochemical Systems (BES) for removing inorganic pollutants have a promising future.
One of the most abundant and harmful inorganic ground water contaminants is nitrate. Nitrate
removal in BES has been successfully demonstrated and the whole denitrification pathway
(harmful NO3-, NO2- and N2O reduction to harmless N2) can be performed at a biocathode.
Until now, the microbial community at the cathode has solely been evaluated at the end
of the experimental period. However, for future implementation of the technology a more
detailed knowledge is required that allows revealing community parameters like stability and
evenness. Therefore, this study presents a continuous monitoring of microbial community,
bioelectrochemical activity, and their dynamics during constant operation and stress-tests.
The 1L cathode chamber of a BES was filled with granular graphite, decreasing the net volume
to 0.4L and poised with a potential of -320mV vs Ag/AgCl. It was inoculated with activated
sludge and fed with 200mg N-NO3-·L-1 at 0.5L·day-1.
The denitrifying-BES was monitored through: i) NO3-, NO2- and N2O concentration (removal
performance); ii) flow-cytometry (microbial community structure). The analyses were performed
at different sampling points of the cathode. In addition bioelectrochemical characterization
using cyclic voltammetry (CV) was performed to study the microbial extracellular electron
transfer (EET).
Stress conditions were also evaluated: i) changes on flow regime, ii) starvation period, iii)
electron acceptor switches (NO3-, NO2-), iv) pH shifts (6.5-9.5), v) cathode withdrawn and vi)
open cell voltage.
Structure- function relationships between the microbiome composition, the bioelectrochemical
activity and the removal performance were found and the heterogeneity of the cathode
chamber was revealed. The CV-results clearly uncovered the thermodynamics of EET of the
denitrifying microorganisms.
In summary, the results allowed a better understanding of the underlying fundamentals of
denitrifying-BES, which will clearly contribute to improve nitrate treatment in BES.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
49
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-05
1. LEQUiA, Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, C/Maria Aurèlia Capmany 69,
Facultat de Ciències, E-17071 Girona, Spain
2. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ. Department of Environmental
Microbiology, Permoserstraße 15 I 04318 Leipzig, Germany
3. DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gemeinnützige GmbH, Torgauer Straße 116,
04347 Leipzig, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectrochemical recovery of metals: where
are we and where to concentrate efforts in
the framework of international criticality?
Xochitl Dominguez-Benetton (1,*), Oskar Modin (2), Annemiek ter-Heijne (3,4), Tom Hennebel (5)
and Korneel Rabaey (6)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-06
1. Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research VITO,
Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
2. Division of Water Environment Technology, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
3. Sub-department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
4. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1113, 8900
CC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley,
Berkeley, California 94720, United States
6. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The study of the interactions between microbes and metals is not new. A long trajectory
exists on how microbes associate with metals in both natural and man-made environments,
from heavy metal remediation to biocorrosion and now with the recent promise of resource
recovery. In microbial electrochemical technologies (METs), metal recovery is the result of
synergistic interactions between metals and electrodes, in which the electron transfer chain
associated with microbial respiration plays a key role.
METs can boost metal recovery through several mechanisms. For instance, microbial bioanodes
can furnish the driving force (totally or partially) for abiotic metal recovery at the cathode (e.g.
electrodeposition). Otherwise, cathodic electrochemically-active microbes may have a more
direct role on the reduction of metal ions into solid material. Thus far, recovery of different
metals has been proven at laboratory scale, in both defined media and in wastewaters. U, Fe,
Cr, Cu, Hg, Mg, and Ag have been addressed and, more recently, this has been extended to
mixed metal solutions (i.e. Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn). These cases will be presented.
This technology may eventually enable economically feasible extraction of metals in so
far unprospected environments, as it can cope with low metal concentrations as well as
with the presence of organics. Besides, it is not energy intensive as compared to classical
electrochemical methods and does not require addition of solvents.
Despite its advantages, our modern civilization finds some metals to be more critical than others
at specific times. Some are critical from the economic perspective whereas for others the risk of
supply interruption is paramount. Is MET addressing such metals? An overview of this issue will
be also introduced. METs could largely contribute to sustainable recovery of critical metals and
reduce the change of supply interruption for those regions where this is a critical matter.
Acknowledgments:
The contributions of XDB have been supported by the Strategic Research Fund at VITO. KR
is supported by ERC Starter Grant ELECTROTALK. OM is supported by a Marie Curie career
integration grant (bioanode) and the Swedish Research Council (VR, 2012-5167).
50
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectrochemical tetrathionate
degradation with acidophilic
microorganisms
Mira L.K. Sulonen, Marika E. Nissilä, Aino-Maija Lakaniemi and Jaakko A. Puhakka
Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 541,
FI-33101 Tampere, Finland.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
51
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-07
The processing of sulfide minerals often releases metals and reduced inorganic sulfur
compounds (RISCs), such as thiosulfate (S2O32-) and tetrathionate (S4O62-), to the mining process
and waste waters. The sulfur compound containing water streams require treatment, because
the biocatalyzed oxidation of RISCs releases protons and may thus cause acidification of aquatic
environments. The use of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds as substrates in microbial fuel
cells (MFCs) would enable the treatment of the streams with the simultaneous utilization of
the energy stored in these compounds. In addition, RISCs could serve as an energy source
for the cathodic bioelectrochemical deposition of metals from the same process or waste
streams. In this study, tetrathionate was used as substrate in two-chamber flow-through MFCs
at highly acidic conditions (pH < 2) with ferric iron as the electron acceptor at the cathode.
The mixed microbial cultures originated from biohydrometallurgical process waters from
multimetal ore heap bioleaching. The cultures degraded tetrathionate bioelectrochemically
with sulfate as the main reaction product. In addition, elemental sulfur deposited on the anode
electrode indicating that the degradation of tetrathionate occurred via disproportionation. The
maximum current and power densities obtained in the performance analysis were 432 mA/m2
and 17.6 mW/m2, respectively. The microbial community analysis showed that the dominant
species both in the anolyte and on the anode electrode surface were Acidithiobacillus sp. and
Ferroplasma sp. Although the electricity yields remained low (CE 2.9%), RISCs were shown
to be suitable substrates for electricity production in MFCs at low pH values typical to mining
environments.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Nitrogen recovery from pig slurry
in two-chamber Bioelectrochemical
System (BES)
Ana Sotres, Miriam Cerrillo, Marc Viñas and August Bonmatí (*)
IRTA, GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, Torre Marimon, ctra. C-59, km 12,1. E-08140 Caldes de
Montbui, Barcelona, Spain.
*. E-mail:[email protected]
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-08
The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of nitrogen recovery using a
stripping unit coupled with a BES system. Given that the BES system was operated under
MFC and MEC modes, a second goal was to investigate the effect of the MEC mode on the
anodophile microbial community by means of 454-pyrosequencing.
Abiotic experiments showed that the higher voltage applied, the higher ammonium migration
though the cation exchange membrane. Operating with mineral medium, after 56 hours (at
0.6 V), ammonium migration increased from 24.9% to 44.6% with NaCl and buffer as catholyte
respectively. Regarding pig slurry, ammonium migration was even higher, rising from 29.1%
to 49.9%.
Different organic and nitrogen loading rates were tested in stripping system and the highest
nitrogen flux (7.23±0.21 gN/dm2) was achieved working under 11.5 gCOD/L·d and 7.4 gNNH4+/L·d and using buffer as catholyte. Nitrogen flux increased to 10.3 gN/dm2 when shifting
from MFC to MEC mode, and to 25.5 gN/dm2 when using NaCl as catholyte. Under these
conditions pH in the cathode chamber went up to 11.2 and hence ammonia stripping was
favoured reaching 94.3% of total nitrogen absorbed.
Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla on the anode,
with a relative prevalence of over 80% in both communities, nevertheles Firmicutes was
more abundant on MEC (50.05%) than on MFC mode (36.49%), while Bacteroidetes and
Proteobacteria decrease their relative abundance on MEC mode. The most abundant
sequences were affiliated with the family Porphyromonadaceae and the total of OTUs
belonging to Proteiniphilum sp. were 1.85% and 4.43% in MFC and MEC communities
respectively. Regarding the archaea population, under MEC mode a two-fold increase on
relative predominance of hydrogenotrophic methanogens such as Methanomicrobiaceae
and a non-methanogenic Fervidicoccaceae was oberved, while Methanosaetaceae and
Methanosarcinaceae decrease in relative abundance under MEC mode.
52
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectrochemical reduction of CO2
to organic compounds
Suman Bajracharya (1,2,*), Annemiek ter Heijne (2), Xochitl Dominguez (1), David Strik (2),
Karolien Vanbroekhoven (1), Cees J.N. Buisman (2) and Deepak Pant (1)
1.Separation & Conversion Technologies, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO),
Mol, Belgium
2. Sub-department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Wageningen,
The Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Keywords : Microbial electrosynthesis, CO2 reduction, microbial electrocatalysis, biocathode,
Volatile fatty acids
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
53
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-09
Microbial Electrosynthesis (MES) comprises electro-reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to multicarbon organic compounds by chemolithotrophs using electrons from a cathode. Reduction of
CO2 to chemicals through microbial electrocatalysis was investigated by using a mixed culture
of acetogenic and carboxydotrophic bacteria forming a microbial biofilm supported on a
carbon based electrode, as biocathode, in a two chamber reactor. The biofilm was developed
after a start-up phase with fructose and later on, growing on bicarbonate as substrate at
sufficiently negative cathode potential (hydrogen evolution) in a couple of subsequent fedbatch operations. CO2 reduction could occur via direct electron transfer from the electrode
or indirectly via mediators or via hydrogen at more reductive potential. Predominantly, Acetic
acid was produced along with other volatile fatty acids (VFAs) while applying -1.1 V/Ag/AgCl
cathode potential, along with hydrogen evolution. At the initial stage of fed-batch operation,
higher carbon recovery up to 60% was observed from bicarbonate (dissolved CO2) to acetic
acid while after accumulation of acetate, the recovery rate went down to 12 % as acetate
degradation/conversion started or other unmeasured products formed. Maximum acetate
production rate achieved during the operation was 40 g m-2 day-1 corresponding to coulumbic
efficiency of 41%. Microbial analysis of catholyte at the end of the experiment showed that
the bacterial community was dominated by Cellulomonas, Stappia and Pseudomonas spp.
These results suggest that the mixed culture enriched with acetogenic bacteria can catalyze
the electro-reduction of CO2 into a number of chemicals like VFAs through direct or indirect
electron transfer mechanisms.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A realistic approach
for electromethanogenesis: coupling
carbon capture to biogas upgrading
P. Batlle-Vilanova (*), S. Puig (*), R. Gonzalez-Olmos, M.D. Balaguer and J. Colprim
Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUIA), Institute of the Environment,
University of Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, Facultat de Ciències, E-17071 Girona, Catalonia,
Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-10
Anaerobic digestion for biogas production is a well-established technology. However this
biogas always requires further treatment, especially to increase the methane (CH4) content.
Water scrubbing is a widely used biogas upgrading technique which generates an aqueous
CO2-enriched flow. Instead of releasing it to the atmosphere, this flow could be used to
feed microbial electrosynthesis cells, contributing to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.
The simulated effluent of a biogas scrubbing-based upgrading unit (containing mainly CO2
as carbon source) was used in this study to produce CH4 in a bioelectrochemical system (BES)
performing electromethanogenesis.
Batch tests were performed in the biocathode of a BES with a net cathode volume (NCC)
of 0.42 L. Cathode potential was poised at -800 mV vs SHE to drive the bioelectrochemical
reduction of the absorbed CO2 fraction of the biogas. The highest CH4 production rate was
2.30 mmol CH4 LNCC-1 d-1 with a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 55.6%. After 10 days, 65.2% of the
CO2 was converted into CH4. Open cell voltage (OCV) mode results and our previous studies
suggested that methane was exclusively biologically produced using electrons as reducing
power source.
As far as authors know this is the first time that the coupling of biogas upgrading and BES
has been studied. The results demonstrated the feasibility of treating the CO2-enriched
flow generated by a biogas upgrading unit as the influent of a biocathode performing
electromethanogenesis. The combined process could lead to increase the CH4 content of
biogas and to implement a new carbon capture technology.
54
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Direct biocatalysis of methane
from carbon dioxide
by a lithoautotrophic archaeon
P. F. Beese-Vasbender (1,*), J.– P. Grote (1), J. Garrelfs (2), F. Widdel (2), M. Stratmann (1)
and K. J. J. Mayrhofer (2)
1. Max-Planck Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 40237 Düsseldorf
2. Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie, Celsiusstraße 1, 28359 Bremen
*. E-mail: [email protected]
References:
[1] Lovley, D. R. & Nevin, K. P. A shift in the current: New applications and concepts for microbeelectrode electron exchange. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 22, 441–448 (2011).
[2] Angenent, L. T. & Rosenbaum, M. A. Microbial electrocatalysis to guide biofuel and biochemical
bioprocessing. Biofuels 4, 131–134 (2013).
[3] Rabaey, K. & Rozendal, R. A. Microbial electrosynthesis — revisiting the electrical route for microbial
production. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 8, 706–716 (2010).
[4] Dinh, H. T. et al. Iron corrosion by novel anaerobic microorganisms. Nature 427, 829–832 (2004).
[5] Enning, D. et al. Marine sulfate-reducing bacteria cause serious corrosion of iron under
electroconductive biogenic mineral crust. Environ. Microbiol. 14, 1772–1787 (2012).
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
55
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-11
The ability of microorganisms to produce or consume electrical current can be exploited in
microbial fuel cell (MFC) and microbial electrocatalysis cell (MEC) applications, respectively [1].
Of those applications, the most promising microbe – electrode interaction for the conversion
of renewable energy into chemical energy, is the direct supply of electrons (in the absence of
artificial mediators) to microorganisms at cathodes, a process called microbial electrosynthesis
[1–3]. Biocatalysts, being highly specific, are increasingly considered for electrosynthetic
processes, for which whole microorganism approaches seem to be most favorable [3]. So far,
only mixed environmental cultures have been shown to produce methane from carbon dioxide
reduction in microbial electrocatalysis cells. Moreover, this has for the most part been achieved
by mediated electron transfer in which hydrogen obviously had a significant influence on the
electron transfer [1,3]. Recently it has been shown, that a newly isolated marine methanogenic
Methanobacterium-like archaeon (strain IM1), originally studied for its influence in microbially
influenced corrosion, has a direct access to electrons from elemental iron [4,5]. Therefore, the
ability of strain IM1 to directly utilize electrons from negatively polarized surfaces like graphite
electrodes has been investigated with regard to production yield and specificity of carbon
dioxide reduction. A specific anaerobic bio-electrochemical cell has been connected online
to gas chromatography. The combined study of electrochemical parameters and microbial
activity for methanogenesis and hydrogen evolution clearly revealed the high efficiency of
the process. Furthermore, fundamental investigations at different applied potentials using
coupled analytical and electrochemical techniques have been conducted to achieve a deeper
understanding of the microbe − electrode interaction. This helps to elucidate how the process
might be further influenced for future full – scale applications.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electro-fermentation: membrane
electrolysis drives the rapid valorisation
of biorefinery thin stillage
Stephen J. Andersen (*), Thais Basadre, Marta Coma and Korneel Rabaey (*)
Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653,
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected] Tel. +3292645985
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-12
A diverse range of sustainable fuels and chemicals can be generated from biomass in a biorefinery, including alcohols, plastics and industrial platform chemicals. Bio-refinery side streams
and wastes tend to have a high organic fraction that is generally destined for anaerobic
digestion and ultimately combustion. Here we present a microbial electrochemical technology
that valorises the thin-stillage from a bio-ethanol plant in a so-called Electro-Fermentation
process, with simultaneous recovery of the carboxylic acids in a clean, acidic concentrate by
membrane electrolysis. We demonstrate a shift from acetate to butyrate production when
current is applied. In batch tests, 94% acetate, 3% butyrate on a carbon basis was obtained
in a control scenario (no applied current) after one day, whereas 5 A/m2 applied current
shifted the ratio to 28% acetate, 68% butyrate with; and at 10 A/m2 applied current 20%
acetate, 78% butyrate. The shift in product outcome is a result of catholytic electrolysis, as
hydrogen and hydroxide are generated from water electrolysis of the fermentation broth. The
hydrogen gas can be utilised by the fermenting organisms to drive the reduction to short
chain carboxylates such as butyrate, while the hydroxide mitigates the falling pH caused by
acidogenic fermentation, as an alternative to pH control by dosing basic chemicals. In the
membrane electrolysis extraction process, the applied current drives the carboxylate products
across an anion exchange membrane to a clean, acidic concentrate. At 10 A/m2, approximately
71% of the total VFA produced where extracted from the broth. The applied current improved
the production rate more than fivefold, increasing the generation of carboxylates in the first
two days of operation from 264 ± 175 mg C/L d to 1377 ± 222 mg C/L d. In a fully realised
system, Electro-Fermentation may enable the rapid fermentation of low value waste streams
towards recoverable carboxylate products.
56
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Three-chamber Microbial Electrolysis Cell
as a post-treatment step to refine both
biogas and liquid effluent
from anaerobic digestion
Marco Zeppilli (*), Alessandro Mattia , Marianna Villano and Mauro Majone
Present research is focused on the performance of a fully biocatalyzed three-chamber microbial
electrolysis cell in the perspective of a self sustainable post-treatment process to enhance
both digestate and biogas quality from the anaerobic digestion (AD). The rationale of this
study was to couple carbon oxidation and ammonia removal in the anodic compartment
to carbon dioxide removal and additional methane formation in the cathode compartment.
To accomplish this objectives a bench-scale three-chamber continuous-flow MEC was
developed, where a biomass-free accumulation chamber was inserted between anodic and
cathodic compartments and separated by either protonic or anionic exchange membrane,
respectively. The expected role of the intermediate chamber was to receive both ammonium
and bicarbonate ions from the anodic and cathodic compartments respectively.
The MEC was continuously operated in a potentiostatic mode with the typical three electrode
configuration, after having inoculated the anodic and cathodic compartments by an activated
sludge and an anaerobic sludge, respectively. The anode was operated under continuous flow
feeding of organic carbon while the cathode was operated in batch condition, but for a 70/30
% N2/CO2 gas mixture (simulating typical methane/CO2 ration in the biogas) was continuously
bubbled inside the chamber, to ensure both pH control and inorganic carbon supply for
methanogens. The MEC performance was assessed through COD and electron balance as
well as through removal efficiency of ammonia and carbon dioxide.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
57
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-13
Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Reductive dechlorination in a pilot-scale
membraneless bioelectrochemical reactor
and effect of competing reactions
Agnese Lai (1), Roberta Verdini (1,*), Federico Aulenta (2) and Mauro Majone (1)
1. Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
2. Water Research Institute, National Research Council, Italy
*. E-mail: [email protected]
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-14
Recent studies from our research group have demonstrated that electron donor or acceptor
required for reductive dechlorination (RD) or oxidation of chlorinated solvents can be supplied
by using solid electrodes (such as graphite) at a given potential (Aulenta et al, 2007 and
2013). This bioremediation approach can be continuously controlled and/or monitored in
terms of current or potential and no chemicals need to be injected, which can be a major
advantage especially for in situ applications. The process was mostly investigated in a benchscale continuous-flow reactor where cathodic and anodic compartments were separated by a
proton exchange membrane (Aulenta et al, 2011).
Here, for the first time, a micro-pilot scale reactor was developed as a flow-through column
with no separation membrane between cathodic and anodic compartments (being the
needed separation directly obtained by using the downgradient water flow along the cathodeanode sequence). The system was controlled in a galvanostatic mode by applying 100 mA,
in large excess of the required current for the RD. The micro-pilot reactor was previously
started up with a synthetic medium; then it was also operated by using a real groundwater
from a contaminated site in the North of Italy. In the latter step, main attention was given on
competing reactions such as nitrate, sulfate and bicarbonate reduction.
58
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Development of on-site power generation
modular system for wastewater sludge
valorisation using a combination of partial
anaerobic digestion and Microbial
Fuel Cell technologies
1. IDENER, C\Leonardo da Vinci, 18 - 41092 Sevilla, Spain
2. Asociación Acondicionamiento Tarrasense (LEITAT), C/ de la Innovació, 2 - 08225 Terrassa
(Barcelona), Spain
3. Fraunhofer-Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), Nobelstraße 12, 70569
Stuttgart, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Sludge is the main by-product of the activated sludge process for wastewater treatment (total
EU production circa 9.000.000 tons-DS/year, 2010). Its disposal easily reach up to 60% of total
operation cost of a treatment plant and consume vast quantities of energy, being not a trivial
issue due to its microbiological-chemical characteristics.
In this context, “MFC4Sludge: Microbial fuel cell technologies for combined wastewater sludge
treatment and energy production” project is being carried out under the EU Seventh Framework
Programme aiming to develop an innovative solution for this problem consisting of a Microbial
Fuel cell (MFC) coupled to a Hydrolytic-Acidogenic Anaerobic Digestion (HA-AD).
Specifically, technologies to be developed do not only improve existing treatments in
environmental terms (even avoiding disposal) but also in cost-effectiveness terms (generating
electricity in the MFC in order to power the sludge treatment). The objective is to develop a
reliable, cost-effective and efficient alternative with minimum environmental impacts and without
increasing energy consumption. Expected results are:
•R
egarding HA-AD as pre-treatment: reduce HRT to maximum 7 days, keep operating
temperature below 30°C, avoid methane production and maximise suitable substrates
for the MFC (volatile fatty acids)
• Concerning the MFC system development: obtain power output ratings of minimum
250W/m3, reduce impact in electricity generation to 0.3 kg CO2/kWh by optimising
the MFC design, develop novel stack configurations and increase the ratio “electrodes
surface area/volume” circa 20%
•R
esearch required microbial communities for an optimal HA-AD-MFC combination
• For MFC control and optimal performance: production of mathematical models
combining first-principle physics with empirical data aimed to HA-AD-MFC process
description, develop a distributed control system and implement a MPC controller
• For the scaled-up prototype of the integrated solution, achieve a 90% COD degradation
while reducing sludge volume at least 75%. A net energy generation of minimum 140
W/m3 is estimated.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
59
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-15
Marta Macias Aragonés (1,*), Alejandro J. del Real Torres (1), Pau Bosch-Jiménez (2),
Eduard Borràs (2), Klaus Brüderle (3) and Dieter Bryniok (3)
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Laccase from Trametes versicolor can help
to improve the performance of Microbial
Fuel Cells and to efficiently degrade
micropollutants from wastewater
Sabine Sané (1), Armin König (2), Richard Gminski (2) and Sven Kerzenmacher (1,*)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-16
1. Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering,
University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
2. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg,
Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Current challenges in wastewater treatment are both, the reduction of energy consumption
and the efficient removal of micropollutants. To meet these, we envision a new concept in
which the enzyme laccase is used to improve the cathode reaction of a microbial fuel cell [1]
and to achieve the degradation of micropollutants [2]. As a first step, we show that the laccase
producing fungus T. versicolor can be cultivated on synthetic wastewater (according to DIN
EN 11733 ). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the enzyme-containing supernatant can be
directly used to degrade the model micropollutant 17β-estradiol (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany)
and to catalyze cathodic oxygen reduction at pH 6.
For T. versicolor grown on synthetic wastewater (SW), laccase activity in the supernatant was
increased from 0.006 UmL-1 to 0.022 UmL-1 with the addition of lignin (LSW). Used in triplicate
at a buckypaper cathode, the corresponding current densities at pH 6 amounted to 9 ± 1
µAcm-2 and 14 ± 2 µAcm-2 at 0.644 V vs. NHE, respectively. For comparison, significantly
higher values of 1.234 UmL-1 and 121 ± 8 µAcm-2 were achieved with synthetic complete
laccase medium, indicating that laccase production has to be improved to achieve higher
current densities. Despite the comparably low laccase activities achieved in SW and LSW,
in first experiments already 72% (SW) and 96% (LSW) of synthetic wastewater spiked with
17β-estradiol (0.025 µg/L) were removed from these supernatants during 24 h of incubation.
Our results are a promising step towards the use of the laccase- secreting T. versicolor to
improve both, the performance of microbial fuel cell cathodes and the removal of estrogen
from domestic waste water. Further work will focus on the optimization of laccase production,
the removal of further micropollutants from wastewater, and the combination of a microbial
anode with the enzymatic cathode presented here.
References:
[1] S. Sané, et al., ChemSusChem, 6 (2013) 1209-1215
[2] Y. Shufan et al., Biores. Technol., 141 (2013) 97-108
60
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Biomass retention on electrodes rather
than electrical current enhances stability
in anaerobic digestion
Jo De Vrieze (1,#), Sylvia Gildemyn (1,#), Jan B.A. Arends (1,#,*), Inka Vanwonterghem (2,3),
Kim Verbeken (4), Nico Boon (1), Willy Verstraete (1), Gene W. Tyson (2,3),
Tom Hennebel (1, 5, $) and Korneel Rabaey (1,2,$)
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a well-established technology for energy recovery from organic
waste streams. Several studies noted that inserting a membrane-less bioelectrochemical
system (BES) inside an anaerobic digester can increase biogas output, however the mechanism
behind this was not explored and primary controls were not executed. Here, we valuated
whether a BES could stabilize AD of molasses. Lab-scale digesters were operated in the
presence or absence of electrodes, and at various applied cell potentials (0, 0.5 and 1.0 V). In
the control reactors (without electrodes) methane production decreased to 50% of the initial
rate, while it remained stable in the reactors with electrodes, indicating a stabilizing effect.
After 91 days of operation, the now colonized electrodes were introduced in the failing AD
reactors to evaluate their remediating capacity. This resulted in an immediate increase in CH4
production and VFA removal. Although a current was generated in the BES operated in closed
circuit, no direct effect of applied potential nor current was observed. A high abundance of
Methanosaeta sp. was detected on the electrodes, however irrespective of the applied cell
potential. This study demonstrates that, in addition to other studies reporting only an increase
in methane production, a BES can also remediate AD systems that exhibited process failure.
However, the lack of difference between current driven and open circuit systems indicates
that the key impact is most likely through biomass retention, rather than (bio)electrochemical
interaction of the biomass with the electrodes.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
61
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-17
1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
2. Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland
4072, Australia
3. Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The
University of Queensland,Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark
Zwijnaarde 903, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
#. These authors contributed equally
$. These authors are both senior author
*. E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
On the challenges of the scaling
up and performance assessment
of bioelectrochemical systems based
on a technical scale Microbial
Electrolysis Cell
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-18
Robert Keith Brown (1,*), Falk Harnisch (2), Sebastian Wirth (1), Helge Wahlandt (3),
Thomas Dockhorn (3), Norbert Dichtl (3) and Uwe Schröder (1)
1. Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig,
Hagenring 30, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
2. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research –
UFZ,
Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
3. Institute of Environmental and Sanitary Engineering, Technische Universität Braunschweig,
Pockelsstr 2a, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone: +49 0178 6048773 - Fax: +49 5313918424.
The scaling up process of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) is challenging [1,2] and requires
improvements in multiple aspects of the core technology as well as emerging parameters resulting
from increasing reactor dimensions. Therefore a technical scale MEC was constructed and assessed
in terms of its wastewater treatment efficiency, Coulomb efficiency and current generation. Synthetic
wastewater and real wastewater from a local treatment plant (WWTP) were anodically treated. The
technical scale MEC, when operated in continuous mode at a hydraulic retention time of 1.2 d,
achieved a current generation of Ø 72 µA cm-2, an anodic Coulomb efficiency of 11 %, an average
COD removal efficiency of 67 % and an ammonium removal efficiency of 40 % [3].
We also describe and show a method for comprehensive performance evaluation which takes
the above mentioned criteria into account and balances them against shifting loading rates.
The model is a mathematical approach based on Gaussian error propagation. To assess the
effects of increasing reactor size from the technical scale MEC’s results were compared to other
bioelectrochemical systems and the activated sludge tank of the local WWTP. The technical
scale MEC showed a combined (performance) factor of 0.66 (the activated sludge tank of the
WWTP has a value of 1) in continuous mode operation in comparison to a real WWTP [3].
While this means that further development is certainly required it also illustrates that it should
be possible to develop BES to a state in which they can compete with standard wastewater
treatment systems.
References:
[1] Kim, D., An, J., Kim, B., Jang, J.K., Kim, B.H., Chang, I.S., 2012. Scaling-up microbial fuel cells:
configuration and potential drop phenomenon at series connection of unit cells in shared anolyte.
ChemSusChem, 5, 1086 – 1091.
[2] Logan, B.E., 2010. Scaling up microbial fuel cells and other bioelectrochemical systems. Appl.
Microbiol. Biotechnol., 85 (6), 1665 – 1671.
[3] Brown, R. K., Harnisch, F., Wirth, S., Wahland H., Dockhorn, T., Dichtel, N., Schröder, U., In Press.
Evaluating the effects of scaling up on the performance of bioelectrochemical systems using a technical
scale microbial electrolysis cell. Bioresour. Technol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.044.
62
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectrode-based approach
for enhancing nitrate and nitrite removal
and electricity generation
from eutrophic lakes
Yifeng Zhang and Irini Angelidaki
Nitrate and nitrite contamination of surface waters (e.g. lakes) has become a severe
environmental and health problem, especially in developing countries. The recent
demonstration of nitrate reduction at the cathode of microbial fuel cell (MFC) provides an
opportunity to develop a new technology for nitrogen removal from surface waters. In this
study, a sediment-type MFC based on two pieces of bioelectrodes was employed as a novel in
situ applicable approach for nitrogen removal, as well as electricity production from eutrophic
lakes. Maximum power density of 42 and 36 mW/m2 were produced respectively from nitrateand nitrite-rich synthetic lake waters at initial concentration of 10 mg-N/L. Along with the
electricity production a total nitrogen removal of 62% and 77% was accomplished, for nitrate
and nitrite, respectively. The nitrogen removal was almost 4 times higher under close-circuit
condition with biocathode, compared to either the open-circuit operation or with abiotic
cathode. The mass balance on nitrogen indicates that most of the removed nitrate and nitrite
(84.7±0.1% and 81.8±0.1%, respectively) was reduced to nitrogen gas. The nitrogen removal
and power generation was limited by the dissolved oxygen (DO) level in the water and acetate
level injected to the sediment. Excessive oxygen resulted in dramatically decrease of nitrogen
removal efficiency and only 7.8% removal was obtained at DO level of 7.8 mg/l. The power
generation and nitrogen removal increased with acetate level and was nearly saturated at
0.84 mg/g-sediment. This bioelectrode-based in situ approach is attractive not only due to
the electricity production, but also due to no need of extra reactor construction, which may
broaden the application possibilities of sediment MFC technology.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
63
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-19
Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby,
Denmark.
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
An innovative bioelectrochemical
approach to accelerate hydrocarbons
biodegradation in anoxic contaminated
marine sediments: the ‘Oil-Spill Snorkel’
Carolina Cruz Viggi, Marco Bellagamba, Bruna Matturro, Simona Rossetti
and Federico Aulenta (*)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-20
Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Salaria km. 29.300, 00015
Monterotondo (RM), Italy
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Oil spill disasters are a worldwide problem and current technologies do not satisfactorily
address the issue. Chemical dispersants are frequently employed as a first response option
to an oil spill. While this approach makes the oil spill less visible, dispersants and dispersed
oil under the ocean surface are hazardous for marine life. Particularly, once the dispersed oil
reaches the sediments it tends to persist there for a very long time due to the prevailing anoxic
conditions which drastically limit the occurrence of oxidative biodegradation processes.
To overcome this major drawback, a novel bioelectrochemical system, hereafter named the
“Oil-spill Snorkel” has been developed in this study to treat oil contaminated sediments.
The “Oil-Spill snorkel” aims to accelerate hydrocarbons biodegradation by creating an
electrochemical connection between the anaerobic (contaminated) sediment and the
overlaying aerobic water. The snorkel, takes advantage of the capability of certain bacteria,
such as Geobacter spp. and Shewanella spp., to anaerobically oxidize hydrocarbons with
a carbon-based electrode, deployed in the contaminated sediment, serving as respiratory
electron acceptor. The electrons travel from the bottom part of the snorkel (anode) to the
upper part of the snorkel (cathode) where they reduce oxygen to water.
Here, we developed the proof-of-principle of the proposed approach, by using two sets of
microcosms, setup using different contaminated marine sediments. Each set of microcosms
consisted of five different treatments: live microcosms containing 1 or 3 graphite rods, the
biotic control without graphite rods, and the abiotic (autoclaved) controls containing 1 or 3
graphite rods. With both types of sediments, live microcosms containing 1 or 3 graphite rods
displayed higher respiratory activities (oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide generation)
and higher rates of hydrocarbons (n-alkanes) degradation compared to live controls lacking the
graphite rod(s). Results were corroborated by molecular analyses of the microbial communities
possibly involved in hydrocarbons degradation.
Acknowledgments:
This project is supported by the European Commission in the 7th Framework Programme for
Research and Technological Development under Grant Agreement 312139 – KILL•SPILL –
“Integrated Biotechnological Solutions For Combating Marine Oil Spills”.
64
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Towards understanding interspecies
communication and synergism
in Pseudomonas aeruginosa co-cultures
for application in current production
Erick Bosire and Miriam Rosenbaum
Microbial communities often exhibit synergistic interactions, in which concerted efforts in key
physiological processes lead to a better and more efficient achieving of the target. Such
phenomena have been observed in electro-active communities, where synergistic interactions
are employed to enhance electron transfer and efficient substrate utilization. Several reports
have confirmed the evolution of such communities, and more recently, metabolites and
fermentation products that are shared between the organisms have been identified. In some
of these reports, Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been found to be ubiquitously present,
where it plays a crucial role of phenazine redox mediator production. However, the intricate
communication network, especially Quorum Sensing (QS) in gram negative bacteria, and the
physiological roles of these shared metabolites, are yet to be fully understood. Our study
endeavours to understand the role of fermentation products in synergistic interactions of P.
aeruginosa with other bacterial species, and the subsequent production of phenazine redox
mediators. We evaluate the performance of the different P aeruginosa type strains, under
different ecological conditions and substrates, in bioelectrochemical systems. The QS activity,
phenazine redox mediator production and resulting current production under these conditions
have been determined. Our findings provide insights into the optimisation of ecological
conditions, to foster synergistic interactions towards increased current production. Since
these interactions lead to an overall change in virulence factor generation in P. aeruginosa,
understanding the mechanisms of interactions will not only be fundamental in improving
performance of microbial fuel cells, but also help understand the physiology of P. aeruginosa
in other ecological niches, such as soils or during human lung infections.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
65
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-21
Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 1, 52056 Aachen,
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Comparison of microbial communities
at full-scale hybrid Microbial
Electrochemical Constructed Wetlands
(METlands) for urban
wastewater treatment
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-22
Tristano Bacchetti De Gregoris (1,*), Arantxa Aguirre (2), Alejandro Reija (1), Antonio Berna (2),
Juan José Salas (3) and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,2)
1. IMDEA Water Institute, Calle Punto Net 4, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Edificio Polivalente, Alcalá University, 28805, Alcalá de
Henares, Spain.
3. Centre for New Water Technologies (CENTA), 41820, Carrión de los Céspedes, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) are proving good candidates for new
wastewater treatment approaches. Particularly, electrodes can boost microbial metabolism
in anaerobic systems as they can represent inexhaustible electron acceptors, with the
advantage of providing a more easily modulated redox potential compared to standard, lowreducing redox species that generally drive these systems. This said, bacteria remain the real
responsible of pollutants degradation, and Improving our understanding of how METs select
specific population is vital to refine the technology and bring it to the market. The combination
of MET with constructed wetlands have recently resulted in a powerful hybrid technology
so-called METland for enhancing the biodegradation rates in wastewater treatment or for
reducing the classical constructed wetland dimensions. With this in mind, we have performed
Illumina-based sequencing of 16S rRNA of 6 samples taken from a METland fed by 2m3/day
of real urban wastewater (2500 PE) from the municipality of Carrión de los Céspedes (Seville,
Spain). The diversity of 16S sequences suggests that famous deltaproteobacteria, other metalreducing microorganisms and syntrophic bacteria generally play an important role in anodic
communities; while iron oxidising populations are selected at the cathode. Furthermore,
additional METlands were developed at smaller scale to compare 2 different electrochemical
setups (MEC-like and short circuit) with a classical constructed wetland. Data from 6 more
massively sequenced communities showed that the electrochemical circuit configuration
clearly influenced the composition of biofilms, suggesting that each setup, or a combination of
them, can be used to promote specific microbial actions, where denitrification is of particular
interest. It is foreseen that reducing sequencing costs will allow real-time monitoring of
microbial communities, therefore increasing our capacity of controlling their activities through
the modulation of redox potential of conductive materials.
66
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
From monitoring to steering microbiomes
in BES using single cell analysis
Christin Koch (1,*), Narcis Pous (2), Sebastia Puig (2), Susann Müller (1) and Falk Harnisch (1)
1. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research –
UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
2. LEQUiA, Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In this contribution it will be demonstrated that cytometric fingerprinting is an excellent
method to monitor microbiomes in BES with high resolution and in a fast and cheap manner.
A sample specific cytometric fingerprint (typically based on the flow-cytometric measurements
of 250 000 cells in 3 minutes) is demonstrated to be representative for a microbial community
structure and thus can mirror functional community changes.
Successful functional monitoring of microbial communities in BES is illustrated on the
examples of i) anodic enrichment of electroactive microorganisms, ii) community dynamics and
speciation in “bioelectrochemically steered” anaerobic digesters as well as iii) microbiomes
performing cathodic nitrate reduction.
In conclusion, it will be shown that cytometric fingerprinting allows revealing structure-function
relationships of microbiomes in BES and thus its (continuous) monitoring will allow a steering
of BES based on complex microbial communities in future.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
67
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-23
Microbiomes are composed of complex microbial communities providing a multi-facetted
metabolic network. Thus, reactor microbiomes inhabiting electroactive microorganisms can
play a key role at anodes as well as at cathodes in bioelectrochemical systems (BES). Whereas
microbiomes can only be optimized by unrevealing and steering the underlying structurefunction relationships most often, however, BES are run on empirical experience and the
microbial community is only analyzed sporadically. This led to, so far, limited insights into the
microbiome structure-function relationships in BES.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Effect of light on mixed
community-based bioanodes
Dorin-Mirel Popescu, Edward Milner, Keith Scott and Eileen Yu
School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials,
Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering
Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU, UK
E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected] - [email protected]
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-24
It’s been suggested in the literature that light can stimulate electrogenesis for single strainbased systems but its relation to electrogenicity in mixed community MFCs remains poorly
understood. Investigating its effect is important when considering that mixed communities
may also contain photosynthetic bacteria at undetectable levels but which can easily become
the dominant members under the right conditions.
Bioanodes were grown as part of double chamber MFCs and in half cells on polarized
electrodes both in the absence and presence of light. Results show that light inhibits current
production and promotes biofoulling by growth of purple bacteria. An MFC exposed to the
light had a coulombic efficiency (CE) of no more than 2.12% compared with an MFC kept
in the dark that had a CE of 38.96%. It was also shown that bioanodes are inhibited by
both oxygen and nitrate. Further to this, performance comparison and community analysis by
ion torrent technology was used to build a bigger picture of microbial ecology electrogenic
biofilms exposed to light. These results can be explained by the principle of competitive
exclusion which leads to a hierarchy of bacterial preferences for different types of metabolism
with electrogenicity being placed at the bottom of this list. In bioelectrochemical systems the
energy available for electrogenic bacteria is determined by the potential window between
the donor and the anode potential. In a mature bioanode this has a value of around -0.1 V
vs SHE. In comparison with other types of metabolism, such as using oxygen (+0.816 V vs
SHE) or nitrate (NO3-/NO2- +0.420 V vs SHE) as terminal electron acceptor, the energy gain
for electrogenic bacteria is smaller. Bacteria performing anoxygenic photosynthesis have the
advantage because they can rely on organic substrate for biomass accumulation only while
getting their energy from the light. The results here are applicable to MFCs that use waste
water where the bioanodes are constantly exposed to the biodiversity therein.
68
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial Fuel Cell-based Biochemical
Oxygen Demand sensors
Martin Spurr (1,*), Eileen Yu (2), Keith Scott (2), Tom Curtis (1) and Ian Head (1,*)
1. School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
2. School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials. Faculty of Science, Agriculture and
Engineering
Newcastle University. Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
We aimed to develop a novel MFC-based BOD sensor with an enhanced dynamic range
and reduced response time for BOD measurement. Single-chamber MFCs, batch-fed with
artificial wastewater containing glucose and glutamic acid were operated over several months.
The peak current correlated with BOD5 concentrations up to approximately 250 mg[O2]/L.
At high concentrations the time to reach peak current was on the order of days, which is
not suitable for an online sensor. High resolution data-logging was used to determine the
current generation rate five minutes after medium replacement and was found to correlate
well (R2>97%) with BOD5. Measuring this parameter allowed BOD5 to be estimated within a
response time of five minutes irrespective of concentration.
A continuous flow system with multiple MFCs which have been enriched hydraulically in series
has also been developed and it is anticipated that this will allow BOD detection over a much
larger dynamic range as substrate can be more completely consumed without saturating the
anode.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
69
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-25
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is an important parameter used to assess the quality of
a water sample and is a regulated discharge for many types of wastewater. The measurement
is based on the amount of oxygen required for microbial oxidation of organic matter. The
traditional BOD5 test takes five days to complete and is unsuitable for process control, and
online sensors developed for this purpose have stability and maintenance issues. BOD
measurement is a promising application for Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology in which
current or charge generated can be proportional to the substrate utilised. However, MFCbased sensors to date have had slow response times and limited dynamic range due to
substrate saturation of the anode biofilm.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Iron oxide nanoparticles-coated stainless
steel felt: a promising anodic material
for microbial electrochemical systems
Kun Guo (1,2,3), Bogdan C. Donose (2), Alexander H. Soeriyadi (4), Antonin Prévoteau (1),
Sunil A. Patil (1), Stefano Freguia (3), J. Justin Gooding (4) and Korneel Rabaey (1,2,3,*)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-26
1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000
Ghent, Belgium
2. Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072,
Australia
3. Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072,
Australia
4. School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Stainless steel (SS) can be an attractive material to create large electrodes for microbial
bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), due to its low cost and high conductivity. However, poor
biocompatibility limits its successful application today. Here we report a simple and effective
method to make SS electrodes biocompatible by means of flame oxidation. Physicochemical
characterization of electrode surface indicated that iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were
generated in situ on SS felt surface by flame oxidation. IONPs-coating dramatically enhanced
the biocompatibility of SS felt and consequently resulted in a robust electroactive biofilm
formation at its surface in BESs. The maximum current densities reached at IONPs-coated SS
felt electrodes were 16.5 times and 4.8 times higher than the untreated SS felts and carbon
felts, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum current density achieved with the IONPs-coated
SS felt (1.92 mA/cm2, 27.42 mA/cm3) is one of the highest current densities reported thus
far. These results demonstrate for the first time that flame oxidized SS felts could be a good
alternative to carbon-based electrodes for achieving high current densities in BESs. Most
importantly, high conductivity, excellent mechanical strength, strong chemical stability, large
specific surface area, and comparatively low cost of flame oxidized SS felts offer exciting
opportunities for scaling-up of the anodes for BESs.
70
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Maximum Power Point Tracking strategy
applied to Microbial Fuel Cells to reduce
start-up time and minimize overpotentials
Daniele Molognoni (1,2,*), Sebastià Puig (2), M. Dolors Balaguer (2) Alessandro Liberale (3),
Andrea G. Capodaglio (1), Arianna Callegari (1) and Jesús Colprim (2)
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are considered to be an environmental friendly energy conversion
technology. The main limitations that delay their industrialization include low current and
power densities achievable and high start-up time. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
has been proposed as a method to enhance MFCs electrical performances. The specialized
literature is still lacking of experimental works on scaled-up reactors and/or real wastewater
utilization. This study evaluates the impact of a MPPT system applied to MFCs treating swine
wastewater, in terms of start-up time and long-term performance. For this purpose, two
replicate cells were built and compared, one with the MPPT control applied and one working
at a fixed resistance of 30 Ω. Both MFCs were continuously fed with swine wastewater at high
Organic Loading Rate (OLR), to validate the system under real and dynamic conditions. MPPT
strategy was implemented using a Perturbation and Observation method. It was realized by
means of an array of digitally controlled potentiometers acting as variable resistor. In this way
it was possible to control and set the external electrical load applied to the MFC, in order
to reach and follow the maximum power point. The study demonstrated that the automatic
load control was able to reduce the MFC start-up time of about one month (with respect to
the uncontrolled cell). Moreover, MPPT system application increased of 40% the Coulombic
efficiency at steady-state conditions, reduced anode and cathode overpotentials (50% and
27% reduction, respectively) and limited methanogenic activity in the anode chamber. A
power density of 5.0 ± 0.2 W m-3 NAC was achieved feeding the system at an OLR of 10.5
± 0.7 kg COD m-3 d-1, meanwhile organic matter removal rate reached 4.2 ± 0.2 kg COD m-3
d-1. Power production and organic matter removal were not affected by the control system
application after start-up was finished.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
71
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-27
1. Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (D.I.C.Ar.), University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 1,
27100 Pavia, Italy
2. Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUiA), Institute of the Environment,
University of Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, Facultat de Ciències, E-17071 Girona, Spain
3.Power Electronics Laboratory, Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy
*. E-mail: [email protected]
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Granular capacitive bio-anodes
in a fluidized bed reactor for scaling-up
Microbial Fuel Cells
Annemiek ter Heijne (1,*), Tom H.J.A. Sleutels (2), Alexandra Deeke (1,2), Bert Hamelers (2)
and Cees J.N. Buisman (1,2)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-28
1. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
2. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1113, 8900
CC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected]
One of the main challenge in application of MFCs is to scale up the system while achieving high
current and power densities. To achieve high current and power densities, granular materials
are attractive because they provide a cost-effective way to create a high electrode surface
area. At the same time, granular electrodes have limited conductivity, which in combination
with electrode spacing result in a high internal resistance especially when used in a largerscale system. Granular materials, like graphite or activated carbon, have been used to create
a high surface area, mostly in a fixed bed reactor, in which the electric current is harvested
via a current collector in the form of a graphite rod or a Ti-wire or mesh. To enhance mass
transport, granular materials have been used in a fluidized bed reactor, where the electricity
was harvested inside the anode compartment. We demonstrate new type of fluidized bed
reactor, in which the electrons derived from acetate are stored inside capacitive particles in
a charging column, and the electricity is harvested in an external electrochemical cell. The
reactor had a total anode volume of 2.1 L; the anode current collector in the discharge cell
had a surface area of 11 cm2. We show that electricity was successfully harvested at the current
collector from the charged particles. The current density reached a maximum peak of 2.8 A/
m2 when using 100 g of carbon granules, and increased with higher loading. COD removal,
Coulombic efficiency, and the performance during intermittent charging and discharging of
this capacitive fluidized bio-anode are analyzed. Finally, we discuss the merits of this system
with external discharge compared to other systems with capacitive granules.
72
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A novel anaerobic electrochemical
membrane bioreactor (AnEMBR)
for energy recovery and water
reclamation from low-organic
strength solutions
1. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Biological and Environmental Sciences
and Engineering Division, Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center, Thuwal 23955–6900,
Saudi Arabia
2. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Advanced Membranes and Porous
Materials Research Center, Thuwal 23955–6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
*. E–mail: [email protected] - Phone: +966-5-44700129
A new anaerobic treatment system that combined a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC)
with membrane filtration using electrically conductive, porous, nickel-based hollow-fiber
membrane (Ni-HFM) was developed to treat low organic strength solution and recover energy
in the form of biogas. This new system is called an anaerobic electrochemical membrane
bioreactor (AnEMBR). The Ni-HFM served the dual function as the cathode for hydrogen
evolution reaction (HER) and the membrane for filtration of the effluent. The AnEMBR system
was operated for 70 days with synthetic acetate solution having a chemical oxygen demand
(COD) of 300 mg/L. Removal of COD was >95% at all applied voltages tested. Up to 71%
of the substrate energy was recovered at an applied voltage of 0.7 V as methane rich biogas
(83% CH4) due to biological conversion of the hydrogen evolved at the cathode to methane.
A combination of factors (hydrogen bubble formation, low cathode potential and localized
high pH at the cathode surface) contributed to reduced membrane fouling in the AnEMBR
compared to the control reactor (open circuit voltage). The net energy required to operate the
AnEMBR system at an applied voltage of 0.7 V was significantly less (0.27 kWh/m3) than that
typically needed for wastewater treatment using aerobic membrane bioreactors (1-2 kWh/m3).
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
73
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-29
Krishna P. Katuri (1), Craig M. Werner (1), Rodrigo J. Jiménez-Sandoval (1), Wei Chen (2),
Sungil Jeon (2), Zhiping Lai (2), Gary L. Amy (1) and Pascal E. Saikaly (1,*)
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A novel carbon nanotube modified
scaffold creates an efficient biocathode
material for improved microbial
electrosynthesis
L. Jourdin (1,2), V. Flexer (1, *), J. Chen (3), G. G. Wallace (3), C. D. Bogdan (1,2), S. Freguia (1,2),
and J. Keller (1)
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OC-30
1. The University of Queensland, Advanced Water Management Centre, Gehrmann Building,
Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
2. Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis, Gehrmann Building, The University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
3. ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522,
Australia
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Present address: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent
University, Krijgslaan 281 S12, Ghent 9000 BELGIUM
Successful optimization of microbial electrosynthesis (MES) processes and scale-up to practical
applications requires significant performance improvement while maintaining low costs.
Here we report on a novel biocompatible, highly conductive three-dimensional cathode
synthesized by direct growth of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) on reticulated vitreous
carbon, NanoWeb-RVC [1], for the improvement of MES from carbon dioxide. The CNT
surface appears as a fine roughness on the surface.
NanoWeb-RVC allows for an enhanced bacterial attachment and biofilm development within
its hierarchical porous structure. Moreover, 1.65 and 2.6 fold higher current density (0.29
mA cm-2) and acetate bioproduction rate (0.103 mM cm-2 day-1) normalized by the total
surface area within the porous macrostructure were reached on NanoWeb-RVC versus flat
carbon plate control, for the microbial reduction of carbon dioxide by a mixed culture at
-0.85 V vs. SHE. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing better intrinsic
efficiency (normalization by total surface area) for a three-dimensional biocathode versus a flat
electrode. Unmodified reticulated vitreous carbon lacking the nanostructure was also tested
and found to be far less efficient for MES. The combination of the macrostructured RVC
with the nanostructured surface modification creates significant advantages. The high surface
area to volume ratio of the macroporous RVC maximizes the available biofilm area while
ensuring effective mass transfer to and from the biocatalysts. The carbon nanostructure, in
turn, enhances the microbe-electrode interaction and microbial extracellular electron transfer.
When normalized by projected surface area, very high cathodic current density (3.72 mA cm-2)
and acetate production rate (1.325 mM cm-2 day-1) were reached which makes the NanoWebRVC an extremely efficient material from an engineering perspective as well. This current
density and acetate production rate are the highest reported to date for a cathodic MES.
References:
[1] Flexer, V., et al., The nanostructure of three-dimensional scaffolds enhances the current density of
microbial bioelectrochemical systems. Energy and Environmental Science, 2013. 6(4): p. 1291-1298
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COMMUNICATIONS
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A new tool for modelling electroactive
microbial biofilms based on direct
electron transfer
Luis F. M. Rosa (1), Benjamin Korth (1), Cristian Picioreanu (2) and Falk Harnisch (1,*)
1. UFZ – Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental
Microbiology, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology,
Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Bioelectrochemical systems (BES), based on the extracellular electron transfer (EET) of
microorganism, are on the verge from concept to reality. BES may not only allow turning energy
sinks like waste water into a resource, but also hold a promise for further applications like water
desalination or production of chemicals. The beating heart of BES are their bioelectrocatalytic
electrodes, where microorganisms utilize different modes EET, that allow the connection
of the flow of electric current with the electron flow of the microbial metabolism. Despite
considerable improvement in the understanding as well as engineering of the microbial
electrocatalysis, a uniform modelling framework connecting electrochemistry with microbial
metabolism is still lacking. Here such a framework is introduced for biofilms performing direct
electron transfer, and benchmarked to experimental results of different researchers, yielding
further insights into the principle energetics as well as kinetics of electroactive microorganisms.
PITCH PP-01
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77
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electrochemical investigation
of aerobic biocathodes at different
poised potentials: evidence for mediated
extracellular electron transfer
Edward Milner (1,*), Keith Scott (1), Tom Curtis (2) and Ian Head (2) and Eileen Yu (1,*)
1. School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials.
2. School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering.
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
MFCs work by oxidising organic chemicals at the anode using mixed communities of bacteria,
and combining this with the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) at the cathode in order to
produce electrical energy. At present, Pt is used to catalyse the reaction at the cathode;
however its high cost and issues with long term stability could limit its application. To make
the MFC technology cheaper and more sustainable, biocathode biofilms comprising mixed
communities of aerobic bacteria can be used to catalyse the cathode reaction. Carbon
electrodes modified with these bacteria lower the over-potential required for ORR, but little
is understood about the organisms that constitute these biofilms and their mechanisms of
electron transfer. In the current work, biofilms catalysing the ORR were grown in electrochemical
half-cells poised at potentials of +200 and -100mV vs Ag/AgCl. The electrochemical behaviour
of these biofilms was studied using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), a powerful method for studying
electrochemical systems. A reversible redox feature was observed at the more negative
potential of -100mV and in the absence of O2. This peak was determined to be diffusible by
peak analysis, which suggests the use of an electron shuttle by the bacteria. The composition
of the biofilms produced at -100mV and +200mV vs Ag/AgCl was determined using ion
torrent sequencing technology.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Follow the red road of cytochromes
in G. sulfurreducens: a key step
to understand extracellular electron
transfer pathways
Joana M. Dantas, Ana P. Fernandes, Marta A. Silva and Carlos A. Salgueiro (*)
Requimte-CQFB, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade
Nova de Lisboa, Campus Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
References:
[1] Lovley DR, Ueki T, Zhang T et al (2011) Adv Microb Physiol 59, 1
[2] Mehta T, Coppi MV, Childers SE et al (2005) Appl Environ Microbiol 71, 8634
[3] Nevin KP, Kim BC, Glaven RH et al (2009) PLoS One 4, e5628
[4] Leang C, Coppi MV, Lovley DR (2003) J Bacteriol 185, 2096
[5] Shelobolina ES, Coppi MV, Korenevsky AA et al (2007) BMC Microbiol 7, 16
[6] Morgado L, Fernandes AP, Dantas JM et al (2012) Biochem Soc Trans 40,1295
Acknowledgments:
This work was supported by projects grants PTDC/QUI/70182/2006 and PTDC/BBBBEP/0753/2012 from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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PITCH PP-03
Geobacteraceae are the predominant microorganisms that naturally colonize electrodes
harvesting electricity from highly anoxic wastes such as organic-rich sediments. The
best studied representative of the Geobacteraceae family is the bacterium Geobacter
sulfurreducens (Gs), which can transfer electrons towards extracellular acceptors through a
process that requires extracellular electron transfer (ETT). This is one the most remarkable
features of Gs by which it can reduce toxic or radioactive metals and convert renewable
biomass into electricity and prompt its selection as a target for practical biotechnological
applications [1]. Gs displays a large and diverse number of c-type cytochromes [2], most of
which are multihemic proteins that have been shown to be involved in the ETT pathways.
Gene knockout and proteomic studies led to the identification of several periplasmic and outer
membrane c-type cytochromes involved in extracellular electron transfer in Gs. These include,
for example, the PpcA family of triheme cytochromes and the cytochromes OmcE, OmcZ,
OmcS, OmcB and OmcF. Deletion mutants on these cytochromes revealed their involvement
in the reduction of extracellular oxidized metals, such as Fe(III), Mn(IV) or U(VI) or in electric
current production in microbial fuel cells [2-5]. However, the elucidation of the extracellular
electron transfer pathways in Gs is still in this infancy. New methodological approaches have
been developed by our group to functional and structurally study Gs heme proteins, revealing
their functional mechanism and key residues involved in their electron transfer capacity [6].
These new approaches can now be used to design engineered Gs heme proteins to improve
the bioremediation and electricity harvesting skills of Gs.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Combination of bioanode
and biocathode for the conversion
of wastes into biocommodities
using microbial electrosynthesis
A. Bridier (1), E. Desmond-Le Quéméner (1), L. Rouillac (1), C. Madigou (1), E. Blanchet (2),
B. Erable (2), A. Bergel (2), A. Carmona (3), E. Trably (3), N. Bernet (3), L. Aissani (4), L. Giard (4),
L. Renvoise (5), A. Bize (1), L. Mazeas (1) and T. Bouchez (1)
1. IRSTEA-HBAN, 1 rue Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, 92761 Antony, France.
2. CNRS - Université de Toulouse LGC, 4 allée Emile Monso, 31432 Toulouse, France.
3. INRA UR50- LBE. Avenue des Etangs 11100 Narbonne, France.
4. IRSTEA-GERE, 17 avenue de Cucillé 35044 Rennes, France.
5. Suez Environnement - CIRSEE, 38, rue du président Wilson 78230 Le Pecq – France.
Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) as microbial fuel cells take advantages of microorganisms
to convert the chemical energy of organic waste into electricity. Recently, the discovery that
BES can also be used for the synthesis of biocommodities via microbial electrosynthesis
(MES) has greatly expanded the horizons for their applications. Indeed, some microbes are
able to use electrons and molecules such as CO2 to synthesize reduced products: volatile
fatty acids, alcohols etc... By combining both these processes, it should thus theoretically
be possible to use the electrons of organic waste to synthesize bio-based chemicals in a
clean and controlled compartment. However, these technologies are only few years old and
required scientific data before they can be practically applied.
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In this context, we developed a dual-chamber reactor with both biotic anode (carbon cloth)
and cathode (stainless steel) separated by a cation-exchange membrane. Bioanode was
inoculated using an anodic biofilm sample formed in biological wastes and biocathode
by injecting a suspension of a homoacetogen-enriched culture. Acetate (600mg/l) was
used as electron donor in the anodic compartment. Chronoamperometry experiments
were carried out with a multi-channel potentiostat in order to monitor electroactivity of
the microbial communities. Anode potential was poised at +0.158 volts versus saturated
calomel electrode (SCE) for startup. Chemical analyses (volatile fatty acids (VFAs), cations/
anions, chemical oxygen demand, and total organic carbon) were performed to evaluate
the metabolic pathways. Microbial community diversity was investigated by 16S rDNA
pyrosequencing (MiSeq sequencer, Illumina®). After the total consumption of acetate at
anode (run 1), a second run (run 2) was launched by re-injecting 600 mg/L of acetate in
anodic compartment and also 2-bromo-ethane sulfonate (2-BES) at the cathode to inhibit
methanogenesis.
Current density of 5 A/m² was reached after 24h of experiment. During run 1 and 2 78% and
89% of electrons from acetate were respectively transferred in the system revealing satisfying
coulombic efficiency at the bioanode. During run 1, incoming electrons at biocathode were
mainly used to produce methane (53% of total incoming electrons) and only traces of VFAs
were detected. However, at the end of the second run, VFAs accumulated with a production
rate of acetate reaching 11 g.m².d-1 and corresponding to 29% of the electrons coming from
the anode. Using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, caprylate (C8H16O2)
was also detected in reactors showing the ability of the MES system to produce molecules
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
with an elongated carbon chain. Microbial diversity profiles showed a switch of archaeal
and bacterial populations in cathodic compartment between run 1 and run 2 suggesting that
VFAs production resulted from microbial adaptation to the addition of BES in the cathodic
compartment.
Overall this work constitutes a first step toward the utilization of MES systems for the conversion
of organic wastes into biofuels and chemicals using coupled bioanode and biocathodes.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
81
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Domestic wastewater treatment
in parallel to methane production
in a semipilot MEC
Rubén Moreno, Xiomar A. Gómez, Antonio Morán and Adrián Escapa
University of León, León, Spain
Hydrogen production through microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) presents several challenges
and limitations (mostly related to hydrogen management inside the cell) that restricts its
practical application as a wastewater (WW) treatment technology. It has been argued that
fostering bioelectrochemical methane production rather than avoiding it, could help to solve
these limitations, thus improving the technical and economic feasibility of MEC technology.
Therefore, methane production MECs could serve as an intermediate step that would facilitate
the implementation of MEC technology at a commercial scale.
In this oral presentation we explore the perspectives of direct methane production through
MEC (M-MEC) when treating real domestic WW. We used a semi-pilot 3L membrane-less
reactor provided with two independent MEC units connected electrically in parallel. The
reactor was first operated in batch mode for bioelectrochemical characterization (following a
novel approach developed in the Logan’s laboratory in 2013) and also to determine the kinetic
parameters of methane production and substrate consumption.
In a second set of tests, the MEC was operated in continuous mode with three aims: to analyze
the scalability of our set-up, to compare methane production with conventional hydrogen
production (in terms of energy consumption, energy recovery and WW treatment efficiency)
analyzing pro and cons of both approaches, and to determine the effect of the hydraulic
retention time on methane production.
PITCH PP-05
Rapid conversion of hydrogen to methane in our reactor allowed to curb problems associated
to hydrogen management (such as hydrogen recycling) and as a consequence helped to
improve the energy efficiency. In addition, M-MEC proved a high scalability with respect
to conventional MEC, due to the simplicity and low cost of the design. However we also
identified additional limitations. For instance, relatively high solubility of methane in water
limited energy recovery. This was especially problematic when treating dWW with low COD
concentrations.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Simultaneous production and extraction
of acetate from CO2 during microbial
electrosynthesis
Sylvia Gildemyn (*), Kristof Verbeeck, Stephen Andersen and Korneel Rabaey
Laboratory of Microbial Ecology & Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653,
9000 Gent, Belgium.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Keywords: microbial electrosynthesis, membrane electrolysis, bioproduction
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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Conversion of CO2 into organics using autotrophic electro-active cultures is developing rapidly.
We can now produce bioproducts such as acetate at concentrations up to 10 g/L. Whereas
production rates are limited by product accumulation, reversely the still-low concentrations
preclude conventional product recovery. Here we present a novel three-compartment
electrochemical cell reactor design for simultaneous bioproduction and product extraction.
This cell combines a cathode compartment for microbial electrosynthesis (MES), a membrane
electrolysis step for extraction of the produced acetate, and an acid-generating anode. The
acetate is trapped in its acidic form in the low pH middle compartment and formation of
chlorinated by-products at the anode is avoided using a second membrane. Abiotic system
characterization in which acetate was gradually dosed into the cathode compartment led to
the conclusion that electricity-driven production and extraction can be obtained effectively
using this system, allowing the extraction of acetate above the 1 g/L level at the cathode. The
coulombic efficiency of extraction increased from 5% at cathodic acetate concentrations below
1 g/L to 25% at 3 g/L of acetate, which is line with the expectations at low current densities
(1.5 A/m²) and low titers. The extraction step lowered the cathodic acetate concentration by
40%, which may effectively decrease product inhibition. Preliminary results from biotic MES
experiments confirm these findings: for a cathodic concentration of 233 mg acetate/L, 46
mg/L was obtained in the middle compartment, while 233 mg/L was obtained in the middle
compartment for a cathodic concentration of 968 mg/L. The integrated approach is a step
forward in the development of MES as a sustainable production technology.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Screening for new microbial
electroreduction biocatalysts
Tatiana C. Rodrigues (*) and Miriam A. Rosenbaum
RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Bioelectrochemical systems have become an important biotechnology in the field of
biological and environmental engineering, being regarded as a promising future technology
for the production of electricity, fuels and chemicals. A recent derivative of BES is microbial
electrosynthesis. In this approach, microorganisms take up electrons from a cathode and
reduce carbon dioxide to yield industrially relevant organic compounds that can readily be
stored and utilized. So far, only few electrosynthetic microorganisms have been identified. For
an effective electrochemical screening and identification of such organisms, this study aimed
to develop a time-saving medium-throughput BES system in order to evaluate microbial
ability to accept reducing equivalents from a cathode and later perform a characterization of
the potential candidates. A six-well disposable reactor was designed and developed for the
anaerobic potentiostatic screening experiments. From the screening, the two most promising
cathode-active strains were Desulfosporosinus orientis and Sulfurimonas denitrificans with
produced currents in the range of -5.0 µA/ cm2, which is close to values from known active
anodic pure culture biocatalysts. In order to characterize these strains, the current experiments
are performed in 500 ml bench-top reactors from which liquid and gas samples are analyzed.
Quantitative essays of sessile and planktonic cells together with specific electrochemical
techniques are being performed to better understand the underlying mechanisms. The
ability of microorganisms to take up electrons from a cathode has a wide range of potential
applications. However, further studies about the rate and the route of electrons transfer
between electrodes and microorganisms are crucial for any successful application.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Acid-tolerant microorganisms
for the treatment of acid mine drainage
through MFC systems
Eduardo Leiva (1,2), Vasty Zamorano (1,2), Claudia Rojas (2,3), John Regan (3)
and Ignacio Vargas (1,2,*)
1. Centro de Desarrllo Urbano Sustentable, Santiago.Chile.
2. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago. Chile
3. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. USA
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Present address: Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860. Macul. Santiago,
Chile. Telephone: (56 2) 26864218, Fax: (562)23545876.
In recent years, acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment is a major focus of interest for the
mining industry worldwide. AMD occurs when sulphide minerals are exposed to air and water,
producing runoff with high acidity and high concentrations of metal and non-metal ions. The
low pH and high concentrations of metal ions have adverse effects on ecosystems, polluting
ground and surface waters. Northern Chile is known for its rich mining. It also represents
a privileged site for the study of complex and extreme microbiological systems. High
concentrations of dissolved metals, low pH, high metal concentration in soils and sediments,
and extreme climatic conditions represent the opportunity to explore novel electroactive
microorganisms able to reduce or oxidize extracellular substrates.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
85
PITCH PP-08
We investigated the potential of acid-tolerant microorganisms extracted from an AMD-affected
soil in Northern Chile to generate current in microbial fuel cell (MFC) systems. Sediment
samples selected as inoculum for MFC reactors had high iron (Fe = 542.7 g kg-1), high arsenic
(As = 7.4 g kg-1), pH less than 3.5, and high electrical conductivity (> 4 mS cm-1). The results
showed that under anaerobic conditions the microorganisms were able to survive between
pH 3.0 to 3.5 reducing Fe(III), coupled with the oxidation of acetate, pyruvate, and glucose.
Additionally, batch-fed MFC reactors inoculated with enrichments derived from the AMD
samples showed current generation (~6 μA cm-2), producing a gradual pH increase during
the batch cycle. Hence, MFC performance, together with microscopy and molecular analysis,
suggested the presence of acid-tolerant anodic microbial community. The results presented
in this study are significant because they represent an initial approach to characterize and
understand the potential of acid-tolerant microorganisms in MFC systems.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Unclassified γ-Proteobacteria
are dominant in biofilms of high
performing oxygen reducing biocathodes
Michael Rothballer (1,#), Matthieu Picot (2,#), Tina Sieper (1), Jan B. A. Arends (3),
Michael Schmid (1), Anton Hartmann (1), Nico Boon (3), Cees Buisman (4), Frédéric Barrière (2)
and David P. B. T. B. Strik (4,*)
1. Department Microbe–Plant Interactions, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for
Environmental Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
2. Université de Rennes 1, CNRS UMR no. 6226, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, Equipe
MaCSE, Rennes, France
3. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent
University, Coupure Links 653, BE-9000 Gent, Belgium.
4. Sub-department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6700 AA
Wageningen, The Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected]
#. These authors contributed equally to this work.
Microbial fuel cells can be operated with oxygen reducing biocathodes. Several mixed
microbial communities have been reported to show robust bioelectrocatalysis of oxygen
reduction over time at applicable operation conditions. Still, clarification of electron transfer
mechanism(s) and identification of essential micro-organisms have not been realised. Objective
of this study was to shape oxygen reducing biocathodes with different microbial communities
by means of surface modification in order to clarify the relation of microbial composition and
performance.
PITCH PP-09
Resulting mixed culture biocathodes included complex bacterial biofilms as well as protozoa.
Up to 20 µm thick catalytic biofilms were developed with diverse microbial communities,
mostly consisting of members of the class γ-Proteobacteria. Sequence analysis of ribosomal
16S rDNA revealed a clear correlation between certain microbiota and biocathode
performance. The best performing biocathode reached a high current density (0.9 A/m2) and
the highest domination (60.7%) of a monophyletic group of unclassified γ-Proteobacteria. A
remarkable correlation was found between performance and enrichment of the dominating
micro-organisms. Members of this group can likely be considered as key-players for high
performing oxygen reducing biocathodes. This study shows that the open environment of
oxygen reducing cathodes is selective for effective microbial catalysts.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Strategies for cleaning
up ATRAZINE-polluted soils
using Microbial Electroremediating
Cells (MERCs)
Ainara Domínguez-Garay (1,*), José Rodrigo (1), Karina Boltes Espínola (1,2)
and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,2,3)
1. University of Alcala. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
2. IMDEA-AGUA Parque Tecnológico de Alcalá. Madrid, Spain.
3. NANOELECTRA, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Bioremediation is a cost-effective technology for treating polluted soils. However, the
availability of suitable electron acceptors to sustain microbial respiration can reduce the
microbial detoxification activity. The concept of using electrodes to overcome this metabolic
limitation led recently to the concept of Microbial Electroremediating Cells MERCs (1). In
contrast with standard environmental applications as sedimentary Microbial Fuel Cells (sMFC),
MERCs do not aim power production but to maximize biodegradation rates around the
electrode by offering a never-ending electron sink.
References:
[1] Rodrigo, J.; Boltes, K., Esteve-Núñez, A. Rodrigo, J., Boltes, K. and Esteve-Núñez, A. (2013)
Microbial-electrochemical bioremediation and detoxification of dibenzothiophene-polluted soil.
Chemosphere 101, 61-65
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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Our work demonstrates that natural population can be effectively stimulated by MERCs in
order to bioremediate a soil polluted with the herbicide atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6isopropyl amino-1,3,5-triazine). Residual concentration of atrazine was ca. 6-fold lower in
MERC-treated soil than in MERC-free soil after 2 weeks of assay. This effective bioremediation
task was confirmed by soil extraction followed by HPLC-DAD analysis. Furthermore, the
effective removal of pollutants was supported by ecotoxicological analysis, based on algal
growth assays, with a severe reduction in soil toxicity (ca. 30-fold) after 2 weeks of treatment
led to a non-toxic soil. Interestingly, MERC-free soil was still heavily polluted after this period,
proving that MERCs can be an effective tool for removing organic pollutants from soil.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
An innovative bioelectrochemicalanaerobic digestion-coupled system
for in-situ ammonia recovery and biogas
enhancement: process performance
and microbial ecology
Yifeng Zhang and Irini Angelidaki
Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby,
Denmark
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
PITCH PP-11
Ammonia (NH4+/NH3) inhibition during anaerobic digestion process is one of the most
frequent problems existing in biogas plants, resulting in unstable process and reduced
biogas production. In this study, we developed a novel hybrid system, consisted of
a submersed microbial resource recovery cell (SMRC) and a continuous stirred tank
reactor (CSTR), to prevent ammonia toxicity during anaerobic digestion by in-situ
ammonia recovery and electricity production. In batch experiment, the ammonia
concentration in the CSTR decreased from 6 to 0.7 g-N/L with an average recovery
rate of 0.18 g-N/L(CSTR)/d. Meanwhile, a maximum power density of 0.71±0.5 W/
m2 was produced (10 Ω). Both current driven NH4+ migration and free NH3 diffusion
were identified as the mechanisms responsible for the ammonia transportation. With
an increase in initial ammonia concentration and a decrease in external resistance, the
SMRC performance was enhanced. In addition, the coexistence of other cations in
CSTR or cathode had no negative effect on the ammonia transportation. In continuous
reactor operation, 112% extra biogas production was achieved due to ammonia
recovery. High-throughput molecular sequencing analysis showed an impact of
ammonia recovery on the microbial community composition in the integrated system.
Results clearly indicate the great potential of the SMRC-CSTR-coupled system for
efficient and cost-effective ammonia recovery, energy production and treatment of
ammonia-rich residues.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
High performance configuration on MFC
for copper recovery
P. Rodenas (1,2,*), T. Sleutels (1), R.D. van der Weijden (1,2), M. Saakes (1), A. ter Heijne (2)
and C.J.N. Buisman (1,2)
1. Wetsus, Centre of excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1113,
8900CC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bomenweg 2, P.O. Box
8129, 6700 EV Wageningen, the Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Heavy metals are a serious problem for the environment and for industry. Copper and other
metals are getting scarcer on new mining ores, but everyday more present in water and soils.
MfC’s have been used to remove copper from waste streams, but to achieve an efficient
process high current and power densities are required. We report high currents and high
power densities with a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) for copper recovery using acetate as electron
donor and copper sulphate solution as electron acceptor. The cell was constructed using an
Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM), carbon felt and a flat copper electrode all of them with a
surface of 100 cm2 . Current density of 23.2 Am-2 and a power output of 5.5 Wm-2 is produced.
A stable current of 19 Am-2 was achieved and maintained for days with a power output of 3.9
Wm-2. The recovery efficiency of copper was 90.6% with a coulombic efficiency of 70%. In this
presentation we will show that the membrane and the efficiency of the anode are the limiting
steps inside the MFC. These Limiting processes, like: presence of methanogen bacteria, side
reactions and scaling on membrane surface will be further explained and analysed.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
89
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Treatment of olive brine wastewater
by bioelectrochemical systems
A. Marone (1,*), A.A. Carmona-Martínez (1), Y. Sire (2), E. Trably (1), N. Bernet (1) and J.P. Steyer (1)
1. INRA, UR0050, Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l’Environnement, Avenue des Etangs,
Narbonne, F-11100, France;
2. INRA, UE999 Unité Expérimentale de Pech-Rouge, F-11430, Gruissan.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The production of table olives is an industrial process of great economical importance in several
mediterranean countries. This industry generates large volumes of olive brine wastewater
(OBWW) which is rich in organic matter and contains a considerable amount of salt together
with a significant content of polyphenolic compounds. Therefore OBWWs are difficult to treat
through conventional technologies. Specially, since polyphenolic compounds are toxic for
biological processes and microbial inhibition is known to occur due to the high salt content.
Thus, the most current treatment of OBWWs is their direct discharge into evaporation ponds.
The objective of this work is to demonstrate the possibility to apply bioelectrochemical
systems to recover energy from OBWWs. The experiments were conducted in single
chamber potentiostatically controled systems fed with real OBWW provided from a regional
olive cooperative, using a moderate halophilic consortium (sediments from a salt plant) as
biocatalyst. After testing different poised potentials (+0.2, +0.4, +0.6 and +0.8 V vs. SCE),
the potential of the anode was potentiostically fixed at +0.2 V. Chronoamperometry (CA) was
used to monitor the transfer of charge to the anode while successful electroactive biofilm
growth and electrochemical behavior were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Biogas
production (mainly CH4) and polyphenol degradation were also evaluated. Additionally, a
complete characterization (16S rRNA gene-based CE-SSCP fingerprint and sequencing) of
electroactive biofilm community is ongoing. It will provide new insights into the knowledge of
anode respiring communities which are able to degrade OBWWs.
PITCH PP-13
A maximum current density of 7.1 ± 0.4 Am-2 and a Coulombic Efficiency (CE) of 30% were
obtained, combined with a CH4 production of 700 ± 10 mLCH4/LOBWW. In comparison the
control reactor, with no applied potential, showed no CH4 production. Up to 80% of the
main polyphenols detected in the untreated wastewater (i.e. hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol) were
removed.
Moreover, in order to improve the efficiency of the process, an enrichment procedure of
electroactive biofilm was evaluated. Three consecutive CA cycles using acetate as substrate
were performed before exposing the formed biofilms to real OBWW. After the enrichment
strategy, despite the maximum current density obtained (5.3 ± 0.4 Am-2) and polyphenol
removal were lower, the CE increase up to 94% and the volume of produced CH4 was doubled.
90
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectro-catalytic valorization
of dark fermentation effluents by acetate
oxidizing bacteria in Bioelectrochemical
System (BES)
Sandipam Srikanth (2), Ahmed ElMekawy (1,2), Karolien Vanbroekhoven (2),
Heleen De Wever and Deepak Pant (2)
1. Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Research Institute, University of Sadat City (USC),
Sadat City, Egypt
2. Separation and Conversion Technology, VITO - Flemish Institute for Technological Research,
Boeretang 200, Mol 2400, Belgium
Biovalorization of dark fermentation effluent (DFE) in a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) was studied
using the biocatalyst enriched from farm manure. The MFC performance was evaluated in
terms of power density, substrate degradation, energy conversion efficiency and shifts in
system redox state with operation time and organic loading rate (OLR). Higher power density
of 165 mW/m2 (12.5 W/m3) was observed at OLR I, which dropped to 86 mW/m2 at OLR II
and 39 mW/m2 at OLR III. The substrate degradation was also higher at OLR I (72%) and
diminished with increasing the OLR. The pH showed initial rapid drop and fluctuations initially
when shifted to DFE but adapted over time. Higher columbic efficiency was observed (48%
at OLR I) contributing to a total energy conversion of 11%, which is higher compared to the
available literature. However, the MFC performance declined at higher OLR with respect to
all the performance indicators. DFE consisted of residual sugars from first stage process along
with the volatile fatty acids and alcohols, which contributed for the generation of organic acids
with their simultaneous consumption and lead to VFA increment in spite of COD removal.
Cyclic voltammograms along with the derived electro-kinetics supported the observed shifts.
PITCH PP-14
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
91
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Improved COD removal and ammonia
recovery from anaerobic digestion
and Bioelectrochemical Integrated
System (BES)
Míriam Cerrillo, Judit Oliveras, Marc Viñas and August Bonmatí (*)
IRTA, GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, Torre Marimon, ctra. C-59, km 12,1. E-08140 Caldes de
Montbui, Barcelona, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The aim of this study is to assess BES operation in combination with anaerobic digestion
(AD), in terms of COD removal and ammonia recovering. On the one hand, BES can help to
polish the AD effluent. And on the other hand, thanks to the diffusion from anode to cathode
compartment, ammonium can be removed and recovered.
A series of batch assays were performed using a pair of identical two-chamber cells operated
in MFC and MEC mode, equipped with a cation exchange membrane. The cells were fed with
i) raw pig slurry, and ii) digested pig slurry obtained from a thermophilic CSTR, which achieved
a COD reduction of 40%.
Results of the MFC operation (phosphate buffer solution as catholyte) when was fed with raw
pig slurry showed a COD removal (in 24 hours) of 21.1% and 15.4%, with external resistance
of 100Ω and 500Ω respectively. The ammonium removal was 31.6% and 36.6%; efficiency very
similar to the 35.0% obtained in open circuit. COD removals decreased to 6.9% and 11.8%,
when the reactor was fed with digested pig slurry; while ammonia removal increased to 40.1%
and 39.0% respectively (31.9% in open circuit).
PITCH PP-15
Operation in MEC (0.1 g NaCl/L as catholyte) mode fed with raw pig slurry achieved COD
removals of 30.6%, 29.8% and 37.4% in 48 hours, poising the anode potential at -200, -100
and 0 mV vs. SHE, respectively; ammonium removals were of 29.9%, 28.8% and 31.3%,
respectively, two fold higher than ammonium transferred from anode to cathode compartment
under open circuit mode (15.9%). COD removals decreased to 18.6%, 14.4% and 20.0%
respectively when digested pig slurry was fed, but achieving an overall COD removal of nearly
60% in combination with the CSTR. Ammonia removal remained mostly the same (29.7%,
31.9% and 27.6%, respectively).
92
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Scale-up of Microbial Electrolysis Cells
for domestic wastewater treatment
Adrián Escapa, Rubén Moreno, Mª Isabel San Martín and Antonio Morán
University of León, Spain
It has been estimated that the European market of domestic water and wastewater treatment
(€2.37 billion in 2010) will grow at rate of 4.1% per year (compounding rate), which highlights
the excellent business prospects for MECs. However, domestic wastewater treatment through
MEC is not a mature technology: there are many technological and economical bottlenecks
to overcome, and the experiences at pilot scale are still scarce.
In this presentation we offer the results of the bioelectrochemical characterization of two MEC
units of a modular MEC. Each unit consisted of a membrane-less monocameral (3.5 L of anodic
chamber) MEC provided with a gas diffusion electrode. Even though both units were built
following the same design and were inoculated with the same wastewater, they showed very
distinct behavior (current production) during the start-up period, which then resulted in very
different performances during its operation in batch and continuous mode. To understand
these differences was beyond the scope of the investigation. However, they highlighted two
important facts : (i) there are some factors that affect microbial acclimation in MECs that have
not been well understood and deserve further consideration, and (ii) it is possible to start-up
a MEC within a reasonable period of time (10-29 days) using raw domestic wastewater as the
only inoculum and carbon source and with no pretreatment. Batch results confirmed improved
performance when the MEC was fed with higher CODs.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
93
PITCH PP-16
Above all, the results stressed the need to develop new cathode configurations and cathodic
materials to improve hydrogen management inside the cell, thus avoiding severe problems
such as hydrogen recycling, hydrogen leaks and microbial hydrogen consumption in largescale MECs. In fact, and even though hydrogen recycling did not suppose a big problem at
laboratory scale, it became an issue al semipliot-scale limiting severely the energy efficiency
of our design.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Hydrodynamic modelling for anode
design in Microbial Fuel Cells
Albert Vilà, Sebastià Puig (*), M. Dolors Balaguer and Jesús Colprim
Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUiA), Institute of the Environment,
University of Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, Facultat de Ciències, E-17071 Girona, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
PITCH PP-17
Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) becomes a powerful wastewater treatment technology for resource
recovery. Despite different biological models were developed for process performance
optimization, further simulation analysis should be done on determining the hydrodynamics
within each compartments of MFCs. The hydrodynamics is a key parameter on regulating the
biofilm thickness, substrate diffusion and protons transport through the membrane. This study is
focused on analyzing four different anode configurations (plain rod graphite, granular graphite,
stainless steel mesh and graphite bar) using computational fluid dynamics. Hydrodynamic
behaviour and its influence on substrate diffusion within the anode compartment were
analysed. The use of graphite rod or bar produced high flow variability through the anode
domain ranging from 50-80 m·h-1 to 0 – 5 m·h-1. Granular graphite and stainless steel mesh
favoured better fluid homogenization, where velocities ranged from 0 to 10 m·h-1. This ensured
better electron transfer and proton transport. Moreover, a biological model for acetate was
incorporated within the hydrodynamic model. Two separated zones were obtained when
simulating results for plain rod graphite. The first with lower concentrations (ranging between
0-5 mg acetate·L-1) favoured in the zone of high recirculation stream. The second zone was
between the influent feeding zone and the collector rod graphite. It was characterised by the
high influent concentration (500 mg acetate·L-1), high retention time (lower velocities) and
substrate was readily assimilated by the biomass (concentration reduced to 5-10 mg acetate·L-1). In conclusion, the combination of biological and hydrodynamics models can be useful
tool to optimize the anode design in terms of substrate distribution, removal efficiency and
energy production.
94
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Long-term evaluation of deposited
polyaniline on commercial carbon felt
used as anode in Microbial Fuel Cells
D. Hidalgo (1,2), T. Tommasi (1,*), V. Karthikeyan (2,3), S. Bocchini (1) and B. Ruggeri (2,*)
1. Center for Space Human Robotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia @POLITO, Torino, Italy
2. Applied Science and Technology Department, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
3. Applied Science and Technology Department, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
References:
[1] Polyaniline synthesis by cyclic voltammetry for anodic modification in microbial fuel cells. Int. J.
Electrochem. Sci., 9 (2014) 2038.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
95
PITCH PP-18
Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) are bio-electrochemical systems that directly convert chemical
energy of organic compounds into electricity via microbial metabolism. To date, the process
of electron transfer from bacteria to anode represents a bottleneck for efficient energy
generation from MFC. Recently, conductive polymers in combination with carbon materials
showed remarkable improvement on power densities; however many of those studies have
been done in a short-term evaluation of MFC performances [1]. Focused on this, the aim of this
study is to evaluate the effects of polyaniline deposition on carbon felt called C-PANI as anode
material in a long-term period on the increase of the electrical conductivity and the capacity to
harvest electrons; in otherwords the possibility of the MFC to generate electrical energy, not
only to have an higher electrical power device. Tests were conducted in a two-compartment
laboratory prototype MFC in continuous mode for more than 3 months at room temperature
(22 ± 2 °C). In the anodic chamber, a mixed microbial population naturally present in sea
water was employed as active microorganisms and sodium acetate (1 g.L-1 per day) in buffer
solution was continuously fed as substrate. In the cathodic chamber, carbon felt was used
as electrode material and potassium ferricyanide in buffer solution as an electron acceptor.
Conductivity, redox potential and pH were continuously measured in the anodic solution.
Electrochemical characterization were performed as a follow: (i) polarization curves: Linear
Sweet Voltammetry, Current Interrupt and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and (ii)
current and voltage under an external resistance of 1000 Ω were recorded to evaluate the
electrical energy produced. Results showed that initially C-PANI given a power of 520 mW•m2
compared to the pristine carbon felt of 60 mW.m-2 induced an important increase on the
maximum power density, while the energy production were of 1740 J and 1640 J, respectively.
However, the performances of C-PANI anode decreased continuously and comparable results
were obtained either for treated or no-treated anode after 3 months of operation suggesting
a possible degradation due to physical and/or biological attack of polyaniline during the time
course of test.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial Electrochemical Constructed
Wetlands (METlands): design
and operation conditions for enhancing
the removal of pollutants
in real urban wastewater
Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra (1,*), Alejandro Reija (2), Antonio Berná (2), Juan José Salas (3)
and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,2)
1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Univesity of Alcalá, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
2. IMDEA Water, Parque Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
3. Centre for New Water Technologies (CENTA), 41820, Carrión de los Céspedes, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
PITCH PP-19
Constructed wetlands (CWs) are wastewater treatment systems in which Microbial
Electrochemical Technologies (MET) can be incorporated. CWs are used for the wastewater
treatment in small communities worldwide because of their low cost operation and
maintenance, low energy requirements and good landscape integration. One of the
disadvantages of CWs is the surface area per inhabitant being required. The combination
of MET with constructed wetlands have recently resulted in a powerful hybrid technology
so-called METland for enhancing the biodegradation rates in wastewater treatment or for
reducing the classical constructed wetland dimensions. The following four laboratory-scale
METlands with horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF METlands) were constructed with the aim
of defining the best design and operational conditions to maximize wastewater pollutants
removal: 1) a control unit with standard gravel as biofiltering bed, 2) a polarized unit (200mV
versus Ag/AgCl) and 3 and 4) short-circuit configurations. The systems were fed with real
urban wastewater from the municipality of Carrión de los Céspedes (Sevilla, Spain) under
discontinuous flow regime during a whole year. Several loading rates were tested, which
correspond to 4 – 0.8 days of hydraulic retention time and organic loading rates of 5 – 29 g
DBO5/m3 bed.day. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total
Suspended Solids (TSS), pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total Nitrogen (TN), Nitrates (NΟ3–N),
Ammonium (NH4–N) and Total Phosphorus (TP) were periodically analyzed. In spite of the high
organic load our results indicate that the METland full-filled the Directive 91/271/EEC for some
water reuse applications. The best configuration was the short-circuit unit, achieving a COD
in the effluent below 30mg/L in contrast with the control unit (COD in the effluent, ca. 150
mg/L) that was unable to full-fill the Directive 91/271/EEC. So, we conclude that enhancing
the biodegradation rate by using METland-like configurations will lead to reduce the surface
requirements of classical constructed wetlands.
96
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Development and fabrication of a stand
alone, handheld biosensor system
by combining a novel carbon nanotube
(CNT) microtube electrode with arabinose
sensing S. oneidensis JG410
Malte Heyer (1), Youri Gendel (2), Frederik Golitsch (3), Johannes Gescher (3),
Matthias Wessling (2) and Miriam A. Rosenbaum (1,*)
1. Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
2. DWI, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
3. IInstitute for Applied Biosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Commercial electrochemical biosensors are dominated by enzymes applied as biological
sensing elements. However, for some analytes no electrochemically active redox enzymes are
available. Additionally, establishing enzyme cascade sensors is complex and expensive due
to varying enzyme activities and stability.
In this project we develop a chassis for a commercially feasible, hand-held, easy to use, whole
cell biosensing system, combining two recently developed features.
The biological sensing element is a genetically modified strain of Shewanella oneidensis. Its
ability to shuttle electrons from metabolism to extracellular electron acceptors under anoxic
conditions was set under promotor regulation of the exemplaric analyte arabinose by Golitsch
et. al. [1]. Hence this novel biosensor strain, by promotor exchange, potentially is capable of
sensing a variety of analytes.
Results indicate a good compatibility of sensor strain and electrode and a linear dose-response
signal is provided. The transducing microtube electrode is the central part of the systems
organisation. It is surrounded by catholyte and counter electrode. The biosensing cells are housed
inside the microtube electrode and mixed with analyte through a sucking mechanism for analysis.
Electrical control units apply a constant current and the output potential correlates to the analyte
concentration. Preparation of active cells on demand at contact with the analyte to return a reliable
signal without long delay is one of the open challenges. A practical design of the chassis, smart
electrode connection, electrical setup as well as microcontroller controlled measurement will be
implemented to obtain a stand alone, hand held sensing device.
References:
[1] Golitsch, F., et al. (2013). "Proof of principle for an engineered microbial biosensor based on
Shewanella oneidensis outer membrane protein complexes." Biosensors & Bioelectronics 47: 285291.
[2] Gendel, Y., et al. (2014). "Microtubes made of carbon nanotubes." Carbon 68: 818-820.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
97
PITCH PP-20
The transducer element is a novel microtubular electrode invented by Gendel et. al. [2]. Made
of carbon nanotubes it comprises a large surface area (200 m²/g BET), high porosity (48 - 67%),
good conductivity (20 S/cm) and low manufacturing effort and cost.
Poster
COMMUNICATIONS
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
EQCM as screening tool for biofilm
formation properties
A. Sydow (*), T. Krieg, M. Stöckl, K.-M. Mangol, J. Schrader and D. Holtmann
DECHEMA Research Institute, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486 Frankfurt (Germany)
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The extracellular electron transport represents the microbial key feature for microbial fuel
cells (MFC) and microbial electro synthesis (MES). Electro active microbes have established
different strategies for the communication with electrodes, mainly by using mediated or direct
mechanisms. Especially direct electron transfer via membrane-bound cytochromes and cellular
appendages (nanowires) requires a tight contact of the conductive biofilm with the electrode.
Currently, continuous noninvasive on-line monitoring of biofilm formation on electrode
surfaces is challenging. The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance technique (EQCM)
with a quartz serving as working electrode monitors slight mass accumulation on the quartz
surface by a decrease in its oscillation frequency. It is a very sensitive method to register the
formation of biofilms over time and results can help to get insights in the following topics:
• What are the best conditions for biofilm formation, e.g. electrode material, applied
potential, medium composition?
• When does the cellular attachment begin and how long takes the biofilm formation?
• Which bacterium is the best biofilm forming microbe concerning biofilm mass and biofilm
formation speed?
• Is there any correlation between biofilm formation and current production?
In this work, the biofilm formation of Shewanella oneidensis is investigated using the EQCM.
We were able to show that the change in the oscillation frequency correlates with the current
produced. These results were confirmed by subsequent biofilm analysis using scanning electron
microscopy and in the case of strains overexpressing eGFP fluorescence microscopy.
Further experiments with other electro active bacteria and recombinant strains are in progress
to compare their biofilm formation properties.
POSTER PO-01
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
101
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electrode design by immobilization
of electro active microorganisms
M. Stöckl (1,*), A. Sydow (1), T. Krieg (1), D. Holtmann (1), J. Schrader (1) and K.-M. Mangold (1)
1. DECHEMA Research Institute, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486 Frankfurt (Germany)
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In bioelectrical systems the interaction between electro active microorganisms/biofilms and
the electrode material is mainly characterized by the extracellular electron transfer EET and the
substrate diffusion to the microorganism. Limitations in both the extracellular electron transfer
and diffusion of substrates significantly decrease performance of these systems. One way to
increase the performance is the modification of the electrode design. However, optimization of
the electrode surface, e.g. for an increased conductivity, is limited. Thickness and morphology
of the biofilm on the electrode surface can lead to gradients in nutrient concentrations, reduce
EET and hence are one bottleneck for the industrial application of bioelectrical systems.
In consequence, facing both diffusion and EET can lead to an improved electrode. In this
contribution an approach of immobilization of electro active microbes is presented with the
intention to improve the interaction between the bacteria and the electrode surface.
POSTER PO-02
102
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
BioElectroCalorimetry as a tool
for exploring the fundamentals
of microbial thermodynamics
Benjamin Korth, Luis F. M. Rosa, Hauke Harms, Thomas Maskow and Falk Harnisch (*)
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Environmental Microbiology
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Although the endeavor of exploring electroactive microorganisms has revealed unprecedented
insights during the last decade, there is still a significant lack of knowledge on fundamental
processes such as biomass formation, metabolic pathways and efficiencies. Here an in-depth
understanding may allow tailoring BES by, for instance, preventing the formation of excess
biomass. Key issues that need to be understood cover the metabolic energy fluxes of the
electroactive microorganisms, their thermodynamics and kinetics.
Calorimetry is an established method to assess energy fluxes and to provide real-time
information on metabolic activity including thermodynamic, kinetic and stoichiometric
information on microbial growth reactions. However, so far it was not possible to combine
electrochemical and calorimetric analysis of electroactive microorganisms. Here we introduce
a tailor-made in-house developed BioElectroCalorimeter allowing gathering these information
for the first time. Thereby this study provides insights into a model system and allows deriving
mass and energy balances of electroactive microbial biofilms for the first time.
Based on a conceptual splitting of the metabolism and a detailed analysis of the growth
thermodynamics, biomass formation and current production in future it will be possible to
generate detailed mass-balances and thus to examine the underlying driving forces.
POSTER PO-03
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
103
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A novel electrochemical method
for continuous, real-time monitoring
of microbial kinetics
Antonin Prévoteau (*), Annelies Geirnaert, Jan B. A. Arends, Tom Van de Wiele
and Korneel Rabaey (*)
Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET)
University of Ghent, Belgium
*. E-mail: [email protected]
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Whereas rotating disc electrodes (RDE) have been frequently used to measure enzyme
kinetics, no studies have taken advantage of the well-controlled mass transfer to study
bacterial metabolism. Here we present a novel amperometric method to accurately monitor
kinetic parameters of planktonic cells. The principle is to monitor in real-time the consumption
rate of an electroactive compound used by a bacterial strain as an electron acceptor. Coupled
with a corresponding measurement of cell density by flow cytometry, it therefore provides
the intrinsic kinetics of the strain in non-growing conditions. The high sampling frequency for
current of a potentiostat allows a high resolution, continuous measurement of the kinetics.
We can therefore observe in real-time successive bacterial metabolic adaptations to minor
changes in its environment (substrate or inhibitor addition, T, etc.).
The new technique has been tested with Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, an anaerobe of the
human gut flora which can use riboflavin as an electron acceptor. Interest in this butyrate
producing bacterium has recently increased for its possible use as a probiotic against gut
disease development. However reports also underline its complex metabolism. Changes in
riboflavin oxidation state can be directly determined with a glassy carbon RDE . Performed in
an anaerobic closet, the RDE measurement provided accurate and reproducible kinetics for
bacterial dispersions whose cell density ranged from less than 105 cells/mL to 108 cells/mL.
It also presented an excellent detection limit; we measured evolution of the current density
(dj/dt) as low as ~ 0.1 nA.cm-2.s-1 (at 2000 rpm), corresponding to a riboflavin consumption
rate by F. Prauznitzii of ~ 60 pmol.L-1.s-1. The impact of substrate concentration (glucose) and
metabolites (short chain fatty acids) on riboflavin reduction kinetics will be presented.
We expect this method will help deciphering the complex kinetics mechanism of beneficial
gut bacteria, among others.
POSTER PO-04
104
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Rapid test for testing bacterial
electroactivity for oxygen reduction
catalysis by the mean of bacterial dense
suspensions
Mickaël Rimboud, Sandra Debuy, Alain Bergel and Benjamin Erable
Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse-CNRS, 4 allée Emile Monso, BP 84234,
31432 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
Development of efficient oxygen reducing biocathodes remains a major issue for the
improvement and the sustainability of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC). Such biocathodes relied on
the ability for aerobic microorganisms to accept electrons from the cathode to reduce oxygen.
In the literature, biocathodes were previously formed from different natural environments;
among them, biofilms grown from marine environment on stainless steel have proved to
constitute an interesting source of microorganisms able to catalyze oxygen reduction.
However, the establishment of such biocathodes under constant polarization
(chronoamperometry) from the natural medium (seawater) has demonstrated to remain difficult
and the performances displayed by the electrodes were poorly reproducible. Moreover, the
time required to achieve these experiments could be long, from few days to several weeks.
Here, we propose a new methodology that enables to test the ability of pure or mixed bacterial
strains to reduce oxygen on electrodes within 48 hours-long experiment. It was successfully
applied to test the ability for oxygen reduction catalysis by different bacterial strains previously
isolated from a natural marine biofilm. In this procedure, electrochemical tests were performed
on a dense bacterial suspension maintained in stationary growth phase in artificial seawater.
Linear sweep voltammetries (LSVs) were regularly performed using a three electrodes set-up
immersed in the gently stirred mixture to evaluate the catalytic response for oxygen reduction
as the working electrode was progressively colonized. Depending on the experiment, an
addition of air or oxygen was added to the mixture in order to enhance oxygen supply. This
“rapid test” is also used as a shorter procedure for testing in less than 2 days the effect of
the chemical or physical modification of the electrode surfaces, or for comparing different
electrode materials.
POSTER PO-05
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
105
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Redox tuning of the catalytic activity
of soluble fumarate reductases
from Shewanella
Catarina M. Paquete, Ivo H. Saraiva and Ricardo O. Louro (*)
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da
República, EAN, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Fumarate respiration by Shewanella has the unusual trait of relying on fumarate reductases
that are soluble proteins located in the periplasmic space of this Gram negative bacterium.
These enzymes are also among the most abundant proteins in the periplasmic space when
Shewanella is growing anaerobically and have been implicated in the phenomenon of
extracellular electron transfer performed by this organism. To investigate the molecular bases
for the moonlighting activity of these enzymes we analyzed the transient kinetics of fumarate
reduction by two flavocytochromes c3 of Shewanella species while being reduced by sodium
dithionite. These soluble monomeric proteins contain a chain of four hemes that interact
with a FAD catalytic centre that performs the obligatory two electron-two proton reduction
of fumarate to succinate. The four hemes form a chain with more redox centres than those
necessary to hold sufficient electrons to sustain one catalytic turnover of the enzyme. In a
soluble protein this chain provides no obvious contribution to enhance chemiosmotic energy
conservation. Also, the hemes can transfer only single electrons even though the catalytic site
performs two-electron chemistry. Our results enabled us to parse the kinetic contribution of
each heme towards electron uptake and conduction to the catalytic centre, and to determine
that the rate of fumarate reduction is modulated by the redox stage of the enzyme, which is
defined by the number of reduced centres. In both enzymes the catalytically most competent
redox stages are those least prevalent in a quasi-stationary condition of turnover. Furthermore,
the electron distribution among the redox centres during turnover suggested how these
enzymes can play a role in the switch between respiration of solid and soluble terminal electron
acceptors in the anaerobic bioenergetic metabolism of Shewanella. That this switch can be
performed without recourse to transcriptional regulation is advantageous for an organism that
thrives lives in a environment subjected to variable conditions.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Exploring the molecular interactions
responsible for indirect electron transfer
in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1
Catarina Paquete (*), Bruno M. Fonseca, Davide R. Cruz, Tiago Pereira, Isabel Pacheco,
Cláudio M. Soares and Ricardo O. Louro
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras,
PORTUGAL
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Bacterial extracellular respiration has become of great interest to the science and engineering
community due to the potential use of these organisms in biotechnological applications
for energy production. For example in microbial fuel cells (MFC), microorganisms support
their growth by oxidizing organic compounds and an electrode serves as the sole electron
acceptor where electricity can be harvested. In Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, one of the best
studied organism capable to power up MFC, the electron transfer pathway to electrodes
is sustained by several c-type multiheme cytochromes positioned in the inner- and outermembrane, as well as soluble cytochromes found in the periplasmic space. The outermembrane decaheme cytochromes MtrF, MtrC and OmcA were shown to be responsible for
both direct and indirect electron transfer to electrodes in MFC. Although, in this organism,
soluble electron shuttles such as flavins, phenazines and humic acids are known to enhance
extracellular electron transfer by interacting directly with these outer-membrane cytochromes,
the molecular mechanisms of this interaction remain to be elucidated. Toward this end, nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) and stopped-flow spectroscopies, as well as molecular docking
simulations were used to explore the electron transfer across the microbe-electrode interface.
The results showed that although these proteins are highly homologous to each other, they
present distinct modes of interaction with extracellular electron shuttles, shedding light into
functional specificity of the outer membrane oxidoreductases responsible for extracellular
electron transfer. Only understanding the functional mechanisms performed by these
important proteins in extracellular respiration of SOMR1 it will be possible to optimize MFC
for sustainable bioenergy production.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
107
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Gram positive bacteria do it differently?
Probing the molecular bases
for the efficient extracellular
electron transfer performed
by Thermincola potens JR
Nazua L. Costa (1,*), Hans K. Carlson (2), Catarina M. Paquete (1), John D. Coates (2)
and Ricardo O. Louro (1)
1. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier – Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Oeiras, Portugal
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Studies on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) showed that thermophilic bacteria produce higher
levels of current than mesophilic bacteria being often the prevalent electricity generating
communities in the anode. Moreover, operating MFCs with thermophilic microorganisms
have the added value to allow thermal pathogen inactivation. Thermincola potens JR is a
thermophilic Gram-positive bacterium recently isolated in operating MFC. Like the majority of
Gram-negative microorganisms known to be suitable to use in MFCs anodes, T. potens JR has
several putative multiheme c-type cytochromes that are thought to be involved in extracellular
electron transfer. Spectroscopic data confirm that some of these cytochromes contact the
surface of electrodes and participate in the reduction of insoluble hydrous ferric oxide.
The purpose of this work is to characterize the functional properties of multiheme cytochromes
with key roles in the extracellular electron transfer metabolism of T. potens JR. To date, our
group has successfully express two proteins from T. Potens JR, a decaheme periplasmic
protein (TherJR_0333) and a nonaheme outer-membrane protein (TherJR_2595) in both
Escherichia coli and Shewanella oneidensis MR1. Through NMR their reduction potentials and
structural properties will be determined. Protein-protein interactions studies will enable the
establishment of the electron transfer chain linking the cell metabolism to cell surface in vitro.
The molecular characterization of the proteins involved in electron transfer process in T.
potens JR will guide the rational improvement of MFCs for energy harvesting and wastewater
treatment.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A severe reduction in the Cytochrome
C content of Geobacter sulfurreducens
eliminates its capacity for extracellular
electron transfer
Marta Estévez-Canales (1,*), Akiyoshi Kuzume (2), Zulema Borjas (3), Michael Fueg (2),
Derek Lovley (4), Thomas Wandlowsky (2) and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,3)
1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012, Bern,
Switzerland
3. IMDEA WATER, Technological Park of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
4. Environmental Biotechnology Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, US
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The ability of Geobacter species to transfer electrons outside the cell enables them to play
an important role in a number of biogeochemical and bioenergy process. Gene deletion
studies have implicated periplasmic and outer-surface c-type cytochromes in this extracellular
electron transfer. However, even when as many as five c-type cytochrome genes have been
deleted, some capacity for extracellular electron transfer remains. In order to evaluate the
role of c-type cytochromes in extracellular electron transfer, Geobacter sulfurreducens was
grown in a low iron medium that included an iron chelator to further sequester iron. Hemestaining revealed that the cytochrome content of cells grown in this manner was 15-fold
lower than in cells exposed to a standard iron-containing medium. The low cytochrome
concentration was confirmed by in situ Nanoparticle Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (NERS).
The cytochrome-depleted cells reduced fumarate to succinate as well as the cytochromereplete cells grown, but were unable to reduce Fe(III) citrate or to exchange electrons with
a graphite electrode. These results demonstrate that c-type cytochromes are essential for
extracellular electron transfer by G. sulfurreducens. The strategy for growing cytochromedepleted G. sulfurreducens will also greatly aid future physiological studies of Geobacter
species and other microorganisms capable of extracellular electron transfer.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
109
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
New Insights in the electrochemical
behavior of G. sulfurreducens
and other anode-respiring bacteria
Rachel A. Yoho, Sudeep C. Popat and César I Torres (*)
Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, USA;
*. E-mail: [email protected]
We have applied several electrochemical techniques on Geobacter sulfurreducens and
other anode-respiring bacteria (ARB) in order to further investigate their electrochemical
behavior. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and
chronoamperometry, we have been able to identify the use of pathways for electron transport
that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Using CVs, we have observed deviations in the
experimental results from the classic sigmoidal Nernstian relationship based on the assumption
of a single limiting redox process governing the overall j-V response. EIS performed over a
range of discrete poised potentials suggest the presence of more than one distinct “governing”
redox processes (EKA,1 = -0.155 V EKA,1 = -0.095 V vs SHE). Chronoamperometric studies confirm
the presence of multiple pathways in electron transport for Geobacter sulfurreducens, with
the ability to shift in between these pathways within minutes after an anode potential change.
The potential at which these pathways occur in G. sulfurreducens differ from those utilized by
Geoalkalibacter ferrihydriticus and Thermincola ferriacetica.
Further electrochemical studies as a function of pH confirm that the midpoint potential (EKA)
of the Nernst-Monod relationship is a function of the proton concentration for the three
ARB studied. EKA shifts by ~59 mV/pH unit, suggesting a proton-coupled electron transport
mechanism. Thus, proton-transport limitation is not only a result of microbial inhibition, but
also related to electron-transport limitations. These results can explain the strong dependency
between current density and buffer concentration observed in previous studies. Thus, the
electrochemical behavior of several ARB have a similar complex behavior in which different
proton-coupled electron-transport pathways are utilized.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Redox profiling of G. sulfurreducens
biofilms by confocal Raman microscopy
L. Robuschi (1), J.P. Tomba (2), G.D. Schrott (1), P.S. Bonanni (1), P.M. Desimone (2)
and J.P. Busalmen (1,*)
1. Laboratorio de Bioelectroquímica, División Corrosión, INTEMA-CONICET, Juan B. Justo 4302,
B7608FDQ, Mar del Plata (Argentina)
2. Laboratorio de Microespectroscopía, División Polímeros, INTEMA-CONICET, Juan B. Justo
4302, B7608FDQ, Mar del Plata (Argentina)
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Aiming at gaining information on structural and physiological features of electricity-producing
biofilms, we have constructed an electrochemical cell that can be mounted on the stage of
a microscope. The cell is designed to use thin film transparent electrodes, thus allowing the
observation of biofilms in situ and in vivo through the electrode. Using this cell in conjunction
with a confocal Raman microscope (CRM), the redox state of molecules at different focal
planes of Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms was explored. Obtained results showed a redox
gradient across electricity-producing biofilms which was dependent on the potential applied
to the electrode (sole electron acceptor), with the fraction of reduced species being higher
in the external layers of the biofilm. Therefore, respiration in these layers is expected to be
limited. Interestingly, when the electron acceptor is removed (open circuit), a transient gradient
inversion at the biofilm/electrode interface evidences electrons relocation and distribution
across the biofilm matrix.
The approach provided new information about internal biofilm physiology, relevant for
understanding current production constrains and electron conduction mechanisms in these
systems.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The effect of adhesive pili
on the interaction between graphite
electrodes and electrically active bacteria
Michael Lienemann (1,*), Michaela A. TerAvest (2,3), Merja Penttilä (1), Pertti Koukkari (1),
Juha-Pekka Pitkänen (1), Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin (3) and Jussi Jäntti (1)
1. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, 02044, Finland
2. California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,
USA.
3. Physical Biosciences Division, Materials Science Division, and Synthetic Biology Institute,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The external electron exchange (EET) between bacteria and solid materials typically involves
attachment of the cells through hair-like structures at the cell surfaces (e.g. pili). The most
prominent EET examples Geobacter sulfurreducens and Shewanella oneidensis form up to
100 µm thick biofilms on the surface of bioelectroreactor anodes, which provides all bound
cells with the chemical oxidation power necessary to satisfy the energy needs of their cellular
processes. The EET components cytochromes CymA, MtrA, MtrB and MtrC of S. oneidensis
have been previously utilized to produce an EET model organism in Escherichia coli that
was, by virtue of cymAmtrCAB gene expression, able to respire on extracellular reduced iron
species. This model system lacks, however, the common ability of electroactive species to
adhere to their insoluble substrate. The presented experiments describe a modified version
of the E. coli EET model system that produced adhesive Fim pili which have been shown
to be critical for biofilm formation in other E. coli species. The pilated EET model strain
was analysed on bioelectroreactor anodes along with three control strains that represent the
non-pilated and Shewanella cytochrome-free states. When compared to the heterologous
cytochrome production, pili gene expression appeared to have a minor effect on cell growth.
The experimental data suggest that the presence of pili reduces the amount of stably adhered
cells by removing aggregates that do not participate in electron transfer.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial Electrochemical Technologies
for nitrogen recovery and removal
from wastwater
M. Rodríguez Arredondo (1,2), P. Kuntke (1), A. W. Jeremiasse (3), T.H.J.A. Sleutels (1),
C.J.N. Buisman (1,2) and A. ter Heijne (2)
1. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Oostergoweg 7, 8911 MA
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
3. MAGNETO special anodes B.V., Calandstraat 109, 3125 BA Schiedam, The Netherlands
Removal of nitrogen compounds from wastewater is essential to prevent pollution of receiving
water bodies (e.g. eutrophication). However, conventional nitrogen removal technologies are
energy intensive, representing one of the major costs in wastewater treatment plants. For that
reason, innovations in nitrogen removal from wastewater focus on the reduction of energy
use. Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) have gained attention as an alternative
to treat wastewater while recovering energy and/or chemicals from it. The combination of
electrodes and microorganisms has led to several methods to remove or recover nitrogen
from wastewater via oxidation reactions, reduction reactions and/or transport across a charged
membrane. In this study, we give an overview of nitrogen removal and recovery mechanisms in
METs based on state-of-the-art research. Moreover, we show an economic and energy analysis
of ammonium recovery in METs and compare it with existing nitrogen removal technologies.
Furthermore, we present an estimation of the optimum conditions needed to achieve
maximum nitrogen recovery in both a microbial fuel cell (MFC) and a microbial electrolysis cell
(MEC). This analysis allows for a better understanding of the limitations and key factors to take
into account for the design and operation of a particular system. Finally, we address the main
challenges to overcome in order to scale up and put the technology in practice. Overall, the
revenues from removal and recovery of nitrogen, together with the production of electricity in
an MFC or hydrogen in an MEC, make ammonium recovery in METs a very promising concept.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
113
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Genetic manipulation of Clostridium
ljungdahlii: reduction of biomass
intermediates to tailor-made fuels
Bastian Molitor (*), Alexander W. Henrich, Thomas M. Kirchner and Miriam A. Rosenbaum (*)
Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The German cluster of excellence “Tailor-made fuels from biomass” (TMFB) at RWTH Aachen
University uses an interdisciplinary approach to analyze new and optimize established methods
to produce tailor-made fuels from raw biomass. The long-term goal is to develop methods
to reduce the addiction to none regenerative fossil energy sources. Our project focuses on
strategies to reduce pre-defined biomass intermediates to fuels or fuel components using
microbial electroreduction.
Therefore, we want to make use of the natural ability of the anaerobic homoacetogen
Clostridium ljungdahlii to utilize electrons from a cathode in a microbial electrosynthesis cell.
We aim to engineer C. ljungdahlii as an effective biocatalyst that reduces specific platform
chemicals to fuels or fuel precursors by using a synthetic biological approach.
One of the biomass intermediates specified by the TMFB is itaconic acid (IA). The first step in
reduction of (IA) is the activation with CoA to itaconyl-CoA. Genes for well characterized CoAligases/ -transferases with activity towards IA are therefore introduced into C. ljungdahlii, and
analyzed for activity under electroreductive conditions. As an alternative and CoA-independent
route for the reduction of IA, ferredoxin-dependent aldehyde oxidoreductases are also
under investigation. In a second step, intrinsic and heterologous reductases will be screened
for IA reduction. The proof of principle to tailor C. ljungdahlii to reduce a given molecule
electroreductively by using synthetic biological approaches will lead to new biotechnological
strategies for reductive transformation reactions.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Tailoring Clostridium ljungdahlii
for electroreduction: a whole-cell
mutagenesis approach
T.M. Kirchner, B. Molitor, A.W. Henrich, K. Nohara, S. Schmitz, K. Kaufmann
and M.A. Rosenbaum (*)
Institut für Angewandte Mikrobiologie; RWTH Aachen University Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Our work on microbial electroreduction is embedded in the German cluster of excellence
“Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass” at RWTH Aachen University, an interdisciplinary
collaboration to analyze novel and to optimize established methods to produce tailor-made
fuels from raw biomass. The long-term goal is to design and evaluate methods to reduce
the addiction to non-regenerative fossil energy sources by storing renewable energy in fuels.
As part of this collaborative effort, we focus on strategies to reduce pre-defined process
intermediates to potential fuels.
Thereby, we study the natural ability of the anaerobic homoacetogen Clostridium ljungdahlii
to utilize electrons from a cathode in an H-type microbial electrosynthesis cell. Besides
understanding the electron uptake in C. ljungdahlii, we want to enhance electron utilization.
To achieve this, we developed a new whole-cell mutagenesis method for Clostridia based
on a controllable mutator-plasmid. This includes the controlled expression, characterization
and application of C. ljungdahlii´s own Polymerase IV error-prone polymerase as mutagenic
element under a highly controllable promotor together with a temperature sensitv curing
system. Within this work package, we also develop important new molecular biological tools
for C. ljungdahlii. Further, we perform a detailed characterization of the organism’s behavior
and physiology at the cathode. The overall aim is to construct an effective biocatalyst that is
able to use an input of electrical energy from renewable resources for different electroreduction
and electrosynthetic processes.
In a first application within our research cluster we integrate a synthetic pathway into C.
ljungdahlii to reduce a biomass process intermediate to a fuel component. This approach will
open doors to a new biotechnological strategy for reductive transformation reactions, which
might be powered by renewable electricity.
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115
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Enhancement of 1,3-propanediol
production from glycerol using
Bioelectrochemical Systems
Nikolaos Xafenias (1,*), MarySandra O. Anunobi (2,*) and Valeria Mapelli (1,*)
1. Industrial Biotechnology Group, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, SE-41296,
Sweden
2. School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB243 UE, United Kingdom
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected] - [email protected]
Commodity chemicals can be produced in electrochemical reactors using bacteria as
“biocatalysts”, at production rates that in the absence of bacteria would require a substantial
energy expenditure or expensive and unsustainable chemical catalysts. Such a commodity
is 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) which has attracted a great commercial interest because of its
extensive use in the chemical industry. 1,3-PDO can be produced from the relatively cheap
glycerol that derives as a by-product from biodiesel production, hence increasing the economic
value of the biodiesel industry side-streams. In this work we discuss the bioelectrochemical
enhancement of the biological production of 1,3-PDO from glycerol. An enhanced glycerol
consumption and 1,3-PDO production was achieved, when a graphite felt electrode (33 cm2)
was poised at -1,100 mV vs. Standard Hydrogen Electrode (SHE) in an H-type fuel cell. This
was expressed as a glycerol consumption rate of 1.9 g glycerol d-1 (7.4 g glycerol L-1 d-1)
and a 1,3-PDO production rate of 1 g 1,3-PDO d-1 (3.8 g 1,3-PDO L-1 d-1). However, in the
reactor where the electrode was poised at -800 mV vs. SHE, current produced was not enough
to improve the process of glycerol conversion to 1,3-PDO, and rates were similar to those
of the control reactors. Production yields were also improved by current production, from
approximately 0.36 g 1,3-PDO g-1 glycerol to the theoretical maximum of 0.53 g 1,3-PDO g-1
glycerol. Further improvement of the system is attempted by understanding the microbial
composition of the biofilm and the related metabolic pathways involved. Studies of different
BES configurations that would make this process practical and economically beneficial for the
industry are also ongoing.
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Renewable methanol production through
enzymatic electrosynthesis
in Bioelectrochemical Systems (bes) using
cascade of dehydrogenases at cathode
Sandipam Srikanth, Xochitl Dominguez-Benetton, Yolanda Álvarez Gallego,
Karolien Vanbroekhoven and Deepak Pant (*)
Separation and Conversion Technologies, VITO - Flemish Institute for Technological Research,
Boeretang 200, Mol 2400, Belgium
*. E.mail: [email protected] - Phone: +32 1433 6969 - Fax: +32-1432 6586.
Increasing energy demand and depleting fossil resources have necessitated the search for
alternatives. At the same time, increasing carbon foot prints due to the CO2 emissions on
environment have called for its reduction and fixation. In this regard, recent interest in the
field of biocommodities production through bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) using CO2
has generated interest in the enzyme catalyzed redox reactions [1]. Numerous chemical
transformations are reported to be catalyzed by redox-active enzymes in biofuel setup
including both the reduction and oxidation of substrates. However, all these enzymes require
pure substrates for their function which is not economic for large scale applications. In the
present experiment, CO2 is used as substrate for the production of methanol which will have
a significant positive impact on environment as well as energy crisis.
A recent publication from our group depicted the preliminary results of the formic acid
production from CO2, using formate dehydrogenase in free form [2]. Further progressing on
that, currently we are working on a novel immobilization approach for three dehydrogenases,
formate dehydrogenase (FateDH), formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FaldDH) and alcohol
dehydrogenase (ADH), as a cascade onto an electrode and used as cathode in biofuel cell
for methanol production using CO2. The proposed work signifies the importance of CO2
sequestration in the present scenario of environmental pollution problems such as global
warming as well as need of alternative biofuels. Currently, experiments are ongoing and the
results obtained from these experiments will be presented.
References:
[1] X. Dominguez-Benetton, S. Srikanth, Y. Satyawali, K. Vanbroekhoven, D. Pant (2013) Enzymatic
Electrosynthesis: An Overview on the Progress in Enzyme-Electrodes for the Production of Electricity,
Fuels and Chemicals. Journal of Microbial & Biochemical Technology, S6:007.
[2] S. Srikanth, M. Maesen, X. Dominguez-Benetton, K. Vanbroekhoven, D. Pant, (2014) Enzymatic
Electrosynthesis of Formate through CO2 Sequestration/Reduction in a Bioelectrochemical
System (BES). Bioresource Technology, (In Press, Corrected proof) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
biortech.2014.01.129.
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117
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial electrosynthesis: understanding
and strengthening microbe-electrode
interactions
Tian Zhang
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark
Kogle Allè 6 Scion DTU, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark
Powering microbes with electrical energy to produce valuable chemicals such as biofuels
has recently gained traction as a biosustainable production strategy for the reduction of our
dependence to oil. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is one of the few bioelectrochemical
approaches developed in the last decade that could significantly change the current ways of
synthesizing chemicals. MES is a process in which electroautotrophic microbes reduce CO2
to multicarbon organics using electrical current as a source of electron. Electricity necessary
for MES can be harvested from renewable resources such as solar energy, wind turbine
or wastewater treatment processes. The net outcome is that renewable energy get store
in the covalent bonds of valuable chemicals synthesized from greenhouse gas. However,
low electron transfer rates from the electrode to microbes, poor adherence of cells on the
electrode, and a general lack of knowledge about electron transfer mechanisms have been
the main obstacles to MES commercialization to date. Developing genetic systems for known
electroautotrophs, screening for better MES chassis organisms and superior electrochemical
hardware, establishing alternative MES processes relying on co-cultures and investigating
extracellular electron transfer from the cathode to the microbes are some of the strategies that
we are implementing to transform MES into a commercially viable technology.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Screening for better electroautotrophic
microbes and cathode materials
for microbial electrosynthesis
Nabin Aryal, Pier-Luc Tremblay, Leifeng Chen, Daniel Höglund, Tian Zhang (*)
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kogle Allè 6 DK-2970 Hørsholm
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is an innovative approach in which microbes use electricity
to reduce carbon dioxide and produce chemical commodities. This process relies on the
ability of electro autotrophic microbes to accept electron from an electrode. The concept
of MES has already been demonstrated with pure cultures of acetogenic bacteria such
as Sporomusa ovata and Clostridium ljungdahlii. Until now, electron transfer rate from the
cathode to the best electroautotroph, S. ovate, are still orders of magnitude lower than what
is observed in bioanodic processes with other electro genic bacteria. Hence, we are screening
other pure cultures for better MES activities. These bacterial species were pre-selected based
on several criteria such as their presence in enrichments of environmental samples in MES
systems, their capacity to fix CO2, their incapacity to sporulate, and their ability to form robust
biofilms. In parallel, we are developing novel cathode materials promoting better bacterial
cells attachment and higher electron transfer rates. By combining more efficient microbes and
electrodes, we hope to make major gains in term of electron transfer rates and productivity
that will translate in greater potential for scaling up MES for industrial applications.
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119
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioelectrotechnological synthesis
of oxogluconic acids by Gluconobacter
Carla Gimkiewicz (1), Andreas Aurich (2), Hauke Harms (1) and Falk Harnisch (1,*)
1. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - Department of Environmental Microbiology
2. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - Centre for Environmental Biotechnology
*. E-mail: [email protected]
As already demonstrated the acetic acid bacteria Gluconobacter is able to use an electrode as
terminal electron acceptor via mediated electron transfer. Recent studies have been focusing
on the glucose oxidation by Gluconobacter in microbial fuel cells [1, 2] as well as for biosensing
applications [3, 4].
In “conventional” biotechnology Gluconobacter species are already well known for a long
time [5-8]. Due to its unique oxidative metabolism they are exploited for several applications
in white biotechnology, e.g. several of intermediate steps of the L-Ascorbic acid fermentation.
In this contribution we connect the electrochemical activity of Gluconobacter with its
production potential resulting in bioelectrotechnological synthesis. The proof-of-principle will
be provided and the bioelectrochemical synthesis of organic acids (e.g. oxogluconic acid) will
be compared to “classical” fermentation as well as to open circuit controls.
References:
[1] Alferov, S. V., et al. (2006). "Biofuel cell anode based on the Gluconobacter oxydans bacteria
cells and 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol as an electron transport mediator." Russian Journal of
Electrochemistry 42(4): 403-404.
[2] Karthikeyan, R., et al. (2009). "Bioelectrocatalysis of Acetobacter aceti and Gluconobacter roseus for
Current Generation." Environmental Science and Technology 43: 8684–8689.
[3] Lee, S. A., et al. (2002). "Effect of initial carbon sources on the electrochemical detection of glucose
by Gluconobacter oxydans." Bioelectrochemistry 57: 173–178.
[4] Yilmaz, O., et al. (2012). "Chitosan-ferrocene film as a platform for flow injection analysis applications
of glucose oxidase and Gluconobacter oxydans biosensors." Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 100: 6268.
[5] Gupta, A., et al. (2001). "Gluconobacter oxydans: Its Biotechnological Applications." J. Mol.
Microbiol. Biotechnol. 3(3): 445-456.
[6] Deppenmeier, U., et al. (2002). "Biochemistry and biotechnological applications of Gluconobacter
strains." Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 60(3): 233-242.
[7] Keliang, G. and W. Dongzhi (2006). "Asymmetric oxidation by Gluconobacter oxydans." Appl
Microbiol Biotechnol 70(2): 135-139.
[8] Aurich, A., Specht, R., Müller, R.A., Stottmeister, U., Yovkova, V., Otto, C., Holz, M., Barth, G.,
Heretsch, P., Thomas, F.A., Sicker, S., Giannis, A. (2012). "Microbiologically produced carboxylic
acids used as building blocks in organic synthesis." Subcell Biochem 64: 391-42.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Overview of the performance
of a methane-producing microbial
electrolysis cell aimed at sludge
production minimization
Marianna Villano (1,*), Marco Zeppilli (1), Federico Aulenta (2), Giovanni Vallini (3),
Silvia Lampis (3) and Mauro Majone (1)
1. Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
2. Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council (CNR), via Salaria km 29.300, 00015
Monterotondo, Italy
3. Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 15-cà Vignal, 37134
Verona, Italy
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In the frame of the FP7 Collaborative Project ROUTES, a lab-scale, methane-producing
microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) has been developed and operated to assess its applicability
towards the treatment of diluted wastewater (e.g. municipal one) while possibly minimizing
sludge production. The MEC consisted of a fully biological, two-chamber reactor inoculated
with an activated sludge and an anaerobic sludge at the anode and the cathode compartment,
respectively. A range of operating conditions has been analyzed in long-term, continuousflow experiments, including: a) the effect of the feeding composition (acetate vs. a synthetic
mixture of complex organic compounds, simulating a municipal wastewater); b) the effect
of the employed type of ion (both cation and anion) exchange membrane separating the
two compartments; and c) the effect of the applied potential. The latter was carried out by
controlling the anode between +200 and -200 mV vs. SHE and, as a main result, an optimal
tradeoff between a high removal efficiency of the influent organic matter and a positive
(significantly higher than 100%) energy recovery (i.e. the energy captured into methane gas
relative to the electrical energy input) was observed at -100 mV for both types of membranes.
Importantly, a very low biomass growth yield was observed in all cases, resulting in a low
sludge production from wastewater treatment.
Finally, the morphology and composition of the electroactive biofilms enriched at both
the anode and the cathode compartment were assessed by means of scanning electron
microscopy and molecular techniques, respectively. A high diversity in the composition of the
microbial community was revealed at the anode, whereas only two dominant microorganisms,
both assignable to methanogens, were found in the cathodic community.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electrochemical syntheses with displayed
enzymes on the surface of whole cells
D. Holtmann (1,*), F. W. Ströhle (1), E. Kranen (2), R. Maas (2) and J. Schrader (1)
1. DECHEMA Forschungsinstitut, Biochemical Engineering, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
2. Autodisplay Biotech GmbH, Lifescience Center, Merowinger Platz 1a, 40225 Düsseldorf,
Germany.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In general, two different bio-catalytic production systems can be distinguished - whole cellbased processes and the application of isolated enzymes. Several challenges occur by the use
of either isolated enzymes or whole cell systems. Typical hurdles in the application of isolated
enzymes are enzyme instability as well as the cofactor dependency. In whole cell systems the
process performance is often limited by substrate toxicity, limited transport of the substrate
into the cell, besides the formation of byproducts and further degradation of the formed
product.
An option to overcome some of these challenges is to display enzymes on the surface of
whole cells with means of the so called Autodisplay system. Using cells, expressing active
enzymes on the surface may solve problems like substrate uptake and formation of byproducts.
Furthermore laborious purification steps are avoided, because the expressed enzymes are
transported to the outer membrane and are folded correctly to their active forms on the
outside of the cell.
This study shows the expression of active P450 on the cell surface of E. coli via Autodisplay
system. After optimization of the expression conditions, the catalytic performance of the
system was characterized by measurement of the enzyme concentration and activity assays.
A rhodium complex was used for the electrochemical regeneration of NADPH.
The feasibility of an electrochemical cofactor regeneration process in combination with the
surface-displayed enzymes opens a wide field of applications for this novel system.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Inhibitory effects on the cathodic bio-film
of a denitrifying bio-cathode Microbial
Fuel Cell
Abdullah Al-Mamun (1,*) and How Yong Ng (2)
1. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil & Architectural engineering, Sultan Qaboos University,
Engineering block, Room 2027, PO Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman;
2. Assoc. Prof., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of
Singapore, 9 Engineering Dr. 1, Singapore 117576
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Denitrifying bio-cathode Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a complete Bio-electrochemical system
(BES) where both the anodic oxidation and the cathodic reduction reactions are catalyzed
by micro-organisms. In this study, we developed a three-chambered horizontal and upflow channel MFC where the middle chamber acts as denitrifying bio-cathode and the two
chambers at the side act as biological anode. Graphite granules act as electrodes in both
anode and cathode chamber and nafion membranes were used as separator between the
chambers for proton diffusion. The maximum volumetric power obtained was 14.63 W.m-3
NCC (Rext = 11.5 Ω) at a cathodic nitrate loading of 0.15 kg NO3—N.m-3 NCC.d-1, indicating
the potential of using denitrifying bio-cathode MFC for energy production. The obtained
maximum power was approximately 83% higher than that obtained by Clauwaert et al.
(2007b). Complete denitrification from nitrate (NO3‑) to molecular nitrogen (N2) is achieved
by four reduction steps forming nitrite (NO2-), nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) as
intermediates. The details of the biochemistry of biological denitrification processes are shown
in Figure 3 with the redox potentials and enzymes of each step.
Figure 1: Biochemistry of biological denitrification with redox potential (E˚′) (Kim and Gadd, 2007).
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The inhibitory effect of the intermediate denitrifying product- nitrite (NO2-) was observed. The
formation of nitrite is associated with the formation of Free Nitrous Acid (FNA) in the aqueous
chemical system. The experimental analysis showed that the observed degree of inhibition
correlated much more strongly with the FNA, rather than nitrite concentration, indicating FNA
as the true inhibitor on the activity of denitrifying microbes. The results showed that both the
current generation and the denitrification activity were decreased at a cathodic NLR of more
than 0.175 kg NO3- -N.m-3 NCC.d-1. Approximately 45% of the current production and 20% of
the total denitrification activity in this bio-cathode MFC was decreased at a FNA concentration of
0.0014±0.0001 mg HNO2-N.L-1 (equivalent to the nitrite concentration of 6.2±0.9 mg NO2-N.L-1
at a pH of 7±0.1). These results show that the autotrophic denitrifying bacteria are more tolerant
than the heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria (Zhou Y. et al., (2008).
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
High hydrogen production at a very low
applied potential through
ph control strategies
Yolanda Ruiz, Juan A. Baeza and Albert Guisasola (*)
Departament d’Enginyeria Química, EE, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra,
Barcelona, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
During the operation of two-chamber MECs, the electron transport from the anode to the
cathode needs to be balanced to meet the electroneutrality condition. Electroneutrality is
achieved by transporting ions other than protons or hydroxyls through the ion exchange
membrane (either anionic or cationic). This leads to a pH drop in the anodic chamber (due to
proton formation during substrate oxidation) and a pH increase in the cathodic chamber (due
to proton consumption / hydroxyl formation to generate hydrogen). As both the theoretical
potentials of the cathodic and the anodic reactions are pH-dependent, the energy requirement
to drive hydrogen production increases. Moreover, the decrease of pH in the anodic chamber
might produce a loss of activity of the microorganisms colonizing the anode.
The full presentation will study the benefits of pH control in bioelectrochemical systems with
several experiments under different conditions. The experimental results evidenced that a pH
control strategy to maintain the pH at 7.5 in the anodic and the cathodic chambers resulted in
significant increase of hydrogen production by 65 % and the energetic efficiency in relation to
the electrical input from 66 % to 133 %. Moreover, when the pH of the cathodic chamber was
kept at a low value, the same hydrogen production could be obtained by reducing the applied
potential, changing from 1.0 V to 0.2 V, with an increase in the energy efficiency up to 883 %.
In addition, the full presentation will thoroughly discuss the theoretical foundations describing
how high hydrogen production can be obtained, at a very low applied potential, even without
applied potential, just with an optimal pH control strategy. Finally, the future perspectives
of this novel approach will be shown with experiments using acidic real wastewaters in the
cathode.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Conjugated oligoelectrolytes
for autotrophic microbial electrosynthesis
Jan B. A. Arends (1,*), Sunil A. Patil (1), Charles Dumolin (1), Xiaofen Chen (2),
Guillermo C. Bazan (2) and Korneel Rabaey (1)
1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering,
Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
2. Department Material and Chemistry & Biochemistry, Center for Polymers & Organic Solids
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9510 USA
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is an emerging technology capable of producing organic
components from electrical current and CO2 by means of microbial catalyst. Several
microorganisms (pure cultures and mixed communities) have been tested as a potential
catalyst. Although Acetobacterium woodii has been shown not to be able to directly accept
electrons from a cathode, it is still an interesting microorganism for MES as it is able to produce
acetate > 40 g/L [1]. In this work, conjugated oligoelectrolytes (COEs), were used in an attempt
to create an artificial electron conduit from the electrode to A. woodii. COEs have been shown
in previous work to be able to enhance electron transfer in a succinate production process
from electrical current using Shewanella oneidensis (gram (-)) [2].
In this work, A. woodii, a gram (+) organism, the particular COE (DSSN+) was not able to
establish a direct electron transfer process on carbon electrodes at potentials that did not
allow H2 as an intermediate (-0.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl). Switching the cathode potential to -1 V vs.
Ag/AgCl resulted in acetate formation when no COEs were present. The MES reactor with
A. woodii and COEs did not produce any acetate, indicating an inhibitory mechanism. The
same tests were conducted with Sporomusa ovata, a gram (-) organism, and showed a stable
acetate concentration of 30 mg/L when COEs were present while the control reactor showed
a variable production rate. Adding DSSN+ to a mixed culture known to produce acetate
from CO2 and electrical current did not result in a marked difference in acetate production
compared to a culture without COE added, both produced up to 1.2 g/L.
Overall, DSSN+ is capable of enhancing electron transfer between gram (-) microorganisms
and electrodes whereas it seems inhibitory towards autotrophic gram (+) microorganisms in
pure culture during MES reactor conditions.
References:
[1] M. Demler, D. Weuster-Botz, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 108 (2) (2011) 470-474.
[2] A.W. Thomas, L.E. Garner, K.P. Nevin, T.L. Woodard, A.E. Franks, D.R. Lovley, J.J. Sumner, C.J. Sund,
G.C. Bazan, Energ. Environ. Sci. 6 (6) (2013) 1761-1765.
POSTER PO-25
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125
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Development of a µ-Microbial
Fuel Cell
Milton J.S. Fernandes (1,*), Luís A. Rocha (2) and Carla M.A.A. Carneiro (3)
1. Centro ALGORITMI, Minho University 4800-058 Guimarães Portugal.
2. Centro ALGORITMI, Minho University 4804-533 Guimarães Portugal
3. Setúbal School of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal 2910-761 Setúbal, Portugal
REQUIMTE/Centro de Química Fina e Biotecnologia, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) exemplify an emerging technology for energy generation from
renewable biomass, because they are an electrochemical device that converts organic
substrates into energy through microbial catabolism.
Most MFCs are made at macro-size and serve as prototypes of large power sources or energy
efficient wastewater treatment units. To better understand the bio/inorganic interface, an
important role in MFC energy production, micro-scale MFCs are receiving great attention
due to their intrinsic advantages in both fundamental studies and applications.
This study focused on the performance of a device with three dual chambers MFCs with 400
µL of volume, per chamber, using a pure culture of Serratia marcescens as microorganism.
Each dual chamber MFC in the device, have a proton exchange membrane (Nafion N-117)
and thin film gold electrodes. The biochemical composition of the anode consists in a batch
solution with pure glucose as sole organic compound, methylene blue (MB) as a mediator
and a pure culture of Serratia marcescens as microorganism. In the cathode it was used a
potassium ferricyanide solution.
For the optimal conditions the maximum power output, of a single MFC was approximately
645 nW/cm3, with a current of 1,5 µA/cm3 and lasting for at least 10 hours. When three MFCs
were connected, in a serial configuration, it was achieved a maximum power of approximately
1,9 µW/ cm3, with a current of 1,8 µA/cm3.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Characterization of photosynthetic
MFCs with biocathodes
Mónica N. Alves (*), Catarina M. Paquete and Ricardo O. Louro
1. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Av. da República, EAN, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In recent years, the interest in alternative and renewable energy sources has been raising
rapidly due to the increase in the world population and concerns about the environmental
consequences of using fossil fuels to support energy production [1]. Microbial Fuel Cells
(MFCs) are attractive clean technologies for sustainably energy generation since they allow
direct conversion of biochemical energy into electricity, using microorganisms as biocatalysts.
For decades several studies have focused these electrochemical systems but far less is known
about the electron uptake by microorganisms that can be placed in cathodes of anaerobic
MFCs. The aim of this study is to construct a biocathodic dual-chambered MFC and shown
that photosynthetic electrochemically active microorganisms can accept electrons from the
solid-phase electron donors. In the anode compartment a mixed culture of Shewanella
oneidensis MR-1 and Geobacter sulfurreducens oxidizes lactic acid and acetate, respectively,
and transfers electrons to the cathode compartment. We chose Rhodopseudomonas palustris
TIE-1 as biocatalyst due to its versatility of accepting a variety of electron donors (including
Fe[II]) and its ability to use a range of carbon sources for photosynthesis [2]. The power output
of this innovative biocathodic MFC is dependent on reactor design, light intensity, and
bicarbonate utilization [3]. This work will also elucidate how electron transfer occurs in entirely
biotic MFCs, and it will be critical to future biotechnological efforts, namely to electricity
generation and bioelectrosynthesis.
References:
[1] B.E. Logan, Extracting hydrogen and electricity from renewable resources, Environ. Sci. Technol., 38
(2004) 160A-167A.
[2] Y. Jiao, et al., Isolation and characterization of a genetically tractable photoautotrophic Fe(II)oxidizing bacterium, Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain TIE-1, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 71 (2005)
4487-4496.
[3] A. Bose, et al., Electron uptake by iron-oxidizing phototrophic bacteria, Nat. Commun., 5 (2014)
3391.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial electrosynthesis at elevated
temperatures
Neda Faraghi Parapari (1,*) and Karsten Zengler (1)
1. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark,
Kogle Allé 6, Hørsholm 2970, Denmark
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Carbon dioxide can serve as an inexpensive source for the synthesis of valuable compounds.
Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) is a promising process by which microorganisms reduce CO2
to multi-carbon compounds using electrical current as energy. The general principal for MES
is that electrons and protons are generated by the anode through water hydrolysis. These
electrons are transferred to the cathode through external electric circuits and at the same
time protons are delivered to the cathode through an ion-exchange membrane. An attractive
feature of MES is the conversion of renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) to
chemicals on-site. Although the efficiency of MES is higher than biomass conversion, yields
and rates would need to be improved to make it an industrial viable process.
Here we report MES at elevated temperatures. Two thermophilic bacteria, Moorella
thermoacetica and Moorella thermoautotrophica, were evaluated for their capacity to
produce organic molecules at temperatures above 50 °C. Experiments were performed
at different operating temperatures of 25, 37, 50, 60 and 70 °C in order to determine the
optimum condition for MES at high temperature. We observed the highest acetate production
rate at 60 °C and the highest coulombic efficiency at 50 °C for both M. thermoacetica and
M. thermoautotrophica. At these optimum conditions, the production rates and coulombic
efficiencies were obtained to be 22.7± 4.3 mmol Ac · m-2Electrode· day-1 and 78.8± 14.7 %
(for M. thermoacetica) and 30.2± 2.7 mmol Ac · m-2Electrode· day-1 and 71.9± 4.1 % (for M.
thermoautotrophica). MES at elevated temperatures will reduce costs for the recovery of
organic molecules thus making MES an economically more feasible technology.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Bioremediation of petroleum
hydrocarbons using
bioelectrochemical systems
Adelaja Oluwaseun (*), Tajalli Keshavarz and Godfrey Kyazze
Department of Molecular and Applied Biosciences, Applied Biotechnology Research Group,
University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW, UK.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Pollution of groundwater and soils by petroleum hydrocarbons is a serious threat to human
health as the hydrocarbons are toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic. Microbial Fuel Cells
(MFCs) could be employed in the treatment of these recalcitrant pollutants with concomitant
bioelectricity generation. For practical application the MFCs would have to be effective,
efficient, robust and applicable to both liquid and particulate systems.
The biodegradation of phenanthrene and/or benzene was investigated in dual-chambered
MFCs at different treatment conditions such as inoculum type (Shewanella oneidensis MR1
14063, Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCTC 10662, mixed cultures and combinations thereof),
temperature (20 – 50oC), salinity (0.5 – 2.5 % w/v NaCl) and redox mediators (riboflavin,
anthraquinone sulphonate). All the inocula showed high potentials for phenanthrene and
benzene degradation in liquid systems with a minimum degradation efficiency of 97% and
86% respectively; this was accompanied with power production (range 0.26 – 26 mW/m2).
Degradation rates were about 9 times higher than typical anaerobic systems. The optimal
conditions for degradation of the hydrocarbons were 40oC and a salinity of 1% using an
adapted mixed culture. MFC performance in terms of electricity generation was enhanced 30
fold when an exogenous redox mediator, riboflavin, was added.
In another study, a novel tubular MFC was operated in a continuous mode at hydraulic
retention times, HRTs, in the range 2 – 10 days at room temperature. A mixture of benzene and
phenanthrene was used as the substrate. Total chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies
and peak power densities decreased from 74 to 57% and 3.4 to 1.1mW/m2 respectively when
HRT was decreased from 10 to 2 days. The removal efficiencies were higher than 90% for both
phenanthrene and benzene. This work highlights the possibility of using MFCs to achieve
high degradation rates of phenanthrene and benzene, and could potentially be used as a
replacement of permeable reactive barriers for remediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated
groundwater.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial Fuel Cells as power supply
of a low-power sensor
Firas Khaled (1,*), Olivier Ondel (2) and Bruno Allard (1)
Laboratoire Ampère, UMR CNRS
1. Université de Lyon, INSA de Lyon
2. Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Villeurbanne France
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are devices that directly transform organic fuels into electrical
energy. MFCs show great promise as a concomitant process for water treatment and as
renewable energy sources for environmental sensors although current researches on MFCs
have demonstrated that they can only produce several milliwatts of continuous power per
liter of reactor. This small energy limits the application of MFCs. The output voltage of a MFC
is between 0.3 V and 0.5 V at maximum power point operation, less than the 1 V necessary
for an ultra-low power device. Standard approaches in power conversion are not able to
allow an MFC to operate as a power source because of these limitations. Specific converter
topologies are required to step-up the output voltage of a MFC. A Power Management Unit
(PMU) based on MFCs needs to operate at low input voltage and at very low power in a
completely autonomous way and capture energy with the highest possible efficiency. The
paper details such a PMU capable to supply electronic devices requiring higher voltage, i.e.
sensors. The application of sensors for monitoring systems in remote locations is an important
approach. MFCs could be an alternative energy source in that case. Powering a sensor with
MFCs may prove the fact that wastewater may be partly turned into renewable energy for
realistic applications. A PMU is demonstrated for 3.6 V output voltage at 1 mW continuous
power, based on a low-cost 0.7-liter MFC. A temperature sensor operating continuously may
live 20 days on 1g of organic fuel.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The necessity of high Coulombic
efficiency in Microbial Electrochemical
Systems for efficient energy recovery
from wastewater
Tom H.J.A. Sleutels (1,*), Sam D. Molenaar (1,2), Cees J.N. Buisman (1,2)
and Annemiek ter Heijne (2)
1. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1113, 8900
CC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
2. Sub-Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone: +31 (0)58 284 30 00 - Fax: +31 (0)58 284 30 01
Microbial Electrochemical Systems (MESs) are a promising technology for clean and efficient
recovery of energy from wastewaters. MES serve two purposes at the same time: 1) to recover
renewable energy in the form of electricity or hydrogen gas, and 2) to produce clean water
that can be discharged to surface waters, by removing the biodegradable organics. To
combine significant energy recovery with appreciable removal rates of organic compounds,
high coulombic efficiency is crucial to these systems. The coulombic efficiency shows which
part of the electrons from the wastewater are recovered at the cathode, thus generating an
electrical current. In combination with the voltage efficiency, which compares the produced
(or applied) voltage to the theoretical voltage, it allows determination of the overall energy
recovery efficiency.
The objective of this presentation is to give an overview of the main processes leading to loss
of coulombic efficiency e.g. methanogenesis, sulphate reduction, fermentation etc.. Therefore,
we analyse experimental data to reveal currently achieved coulombic efficiencies in MFCs and
MECs. Based on this, we will propose a generic model in that relates anode potential and
substrate concentration to coulombic efficiency. Finally, based on this model, strategies to
improve energy recovery from organic waste streams will be discussed.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Decontamination potential
of bioelectrochemical system for p-FNB
removal and mineralization
at low temperature
Xueqin Zhang and Huajun Feng
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University China
Cathodic efficient removal and mineralization of p-Fluoronitrobenzene (p-FNB) was achieved
in a bioelectrochemical system (BES) at low temperature. Above all, the potential of BES for
refractory waste treatment was evaluated at low temperature. The bioelectrochemical reaction
rate constants for p-FNB removal and defluorination at 10°C were 0.0931h-1 and 0.00542h-1,
which was higher than the sum of the rates of two control systems, i.e., a biological system
(BS) and an electrocatalytic system (ECS), by 62.8% and 64.9% under the same temperature.
Compared to BS, bioelectrochemical p-FNB removal and defluorination performance
improvement coefficient were 6.84 and 3.15 at 10°C, 3.34 and 3.31 at 30°C, indicating that
BES is an extremely promising technology for refractory waste treatment at low temperature.
Microbial enzyme activity of hydrogenase and ATPase in BES occurred significantly higher than
that in BS, which was deem as the key for the relief of microthermal inhibition and performance
promotion in BES.
Keywords: Bioelectrochemical system; p-Fluoronitrobenzene; Low temperature.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The effect of hydraulic retention time
on continuous electricity production
from xylose in up-flow MFC
Johanna M. Haavisto (1,*), Marika E. Nissilä (1), Chyi-How Lay (2,3) and Jaakko A. Puhakka (1)
1. Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere,
Finland
2. Green Energy Development Center, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan
3. Master's Program of Green Energy Science and Technology, Feng Chia University, Taiwan
*. E-mail: [email protected]
New sustainable methods for energy production are needed to meet the increasing global
energy requirements and to realization the energy politics of EU that require more effective
ways for exploiting waste materials. The effective exploitation of lignocellulosic wastes
includes not only the exploitation of cellulose but also other compounds, such as xylose
which is one of the main constituents of hemicellulose. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) can be used
for oxidizing wastewaters and producing electricity simultaneously. However, optimization
of growth conditions for microbes is needed to make the electricity production with MFCs
profitable. In this experiment, optimal hydraulic retention time (HRT) was determined to
achieve maximal power density in continuous up-flow MFC reactor (working volumes of 500
mL in anode and 250 mL in cathode) utilizing 0.5 g/L xylose as substrate at 37 °C and pH 7.
Enriched compost culture was used as inoculum, 50 mM potassium ferricyanide solution as
catholyte, and 100 Ω as external resistance. Different HRT values were tested between 0.17
d and 3.5 d. HRT was decreased gradually and the power density values were measured at
each HRT after stabilization of cell voltage (time for stabilization 3x HRT at minimum). After
start-up as batch mode, the power density increased from 0.277 W/m2 to the highest value
measured with HRT of 1.0 d after which it decreased. With flat graphite plate electrodes (38.5
cm2), the maximum power density obtained was 0.432 W/m2 (3.330 W/m3 with HRT of 1.0 d).
Coulombic efficiency (CE) values decreased straightforwardly during the experiment. The best
CE values were detected with the highest HRT (34% with HRT of 3.5 d). Almost all xylose (96%
at minimum) was consumed with all HRTs and small concentrations of acetate and propionate
were detected in the effluent.
POSTER PO-33
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133
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Changes in anode potential and brewery
wastewater treatment efficiency
with different catholytes
and external resistances
Aino-Maija Lakaniemi, Marika E. Nissilä and Jaakko A. Puhakka
Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 541,
FI-33101 Tampere, Finland
Brewery wastewater is an ideal substrate for microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as it consists of easily
biodegradable compounds such as sugars, alcohols and volatile fatty acids. High sugar
content, however, can lead to electron losses to fermentative processes. Therefore, prefermented (16-24 h, 30 °C) brewery wastewater was used in this work. The aim was to study
the effects of different catholytes (ferricyanide and dissolved oxygen in phosphate buffer) and
external resistances (50, 100, 500 and 1000 Ω) on anode potential and brewery wastewater
degradation in simple two-chamber MFCs with plain graphite electrodes. Duplicate MFCs
were operated in fed-batch mode by adding new substrate (50% of the anode working volume
of 75 mL) every 3 to 7 days. Highest power and current densities, 63 mW m-2 and 177 mA
m-2, were obtained using ferricyanide at 1000 and 50 Ω, respectively. Coulombic efficiencies
(against removed COD) were higher in MFCs with ferricyanide (9.2-15.9%) than in MFCs
with dissolved oxygen (5.2-9.8%) at the same external resistance and were highest at the
lowest studied resistance. Power production was limited by simple structure of the cells and
low conductivity of the wastewater (2.15 mS/cm). In MFCs with weak catholyte (dissolved
oxygen), anode potentials varied between-352 and -444 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl electrode) and
showed no clear correlation in respect to external resistance. In MFCs with efficient catholyte
(ferricyanide), anode potentials were more positive than with dissolved oxygen and increased
as external resistance was decreased being -100, 3, 163 and 191 mV at 1000, 500, 100 and
50 Ω, respectively. Removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was more efficient in MFCs
with dissolved oxygen (88-92%) than in MFCs with ferricyanide (26-49%). Negative linear
correlation (R2=0.95) was detected between anode potential and wastewater degradation: the
more negative the anode potential the higher was the COD removal percentage.
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134
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Biodegradation of phenolic compounds
in contaminated groundwater using
Microbial Fuel Cells
Petra Hedbavna (*), Steven F. Thornton and Wei E. Huang
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HQ, UK
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The feasibility of using bio-electrochemical systems to enhance the bioremediation of organic
contaminants by providing bacteria with an electrode as an inexhaustible electron acceptor
has been studied since 2002. To our knowledge, wastewater microbial communities, pure
cultures of bacteria, minimal media or groundwater amended with nutrients have been used
up to date when electrochemically enhanced bioremediation of groundwater was explored.
However, these do not represent the field conditions.
This study focuses on the treatment of groundwater contaminated by phenolic compounds
(phenol, cresols, xylenols) in the anode chamber of an H-type microbial fuel cell (MFC) without
the addition of extra nutrients. 16S-rRNA sequencing has confirmed the presence of an
unknown strain of Geobacter sp. in this groundwater.
Preliminary results show reproducible electricity production up to 2 mW/m2 of projected area
of carbon cloth electrode. It was found that phenols and oxygen can diffuse through the
membrane in a sterile control MFC while no electricity is generated. Oxygen entering the
anode chamber, as well as the electrode, serves as an electron acceptor for biodegradation.
After 41 days, there has not been any significant difference in concentration of phenols
between the closed-circuit MFC and the open-circuit control. These results suggest that
electricity was produced using unknown carbon sources as electron donors and that the
exoelectrogens and degraders of phenolic compounds are different microbial communities.
Future research will examine acetate as a possible electron donor for electricity production
by Geobacter sp. and also a key intermediate of biodegradation of phenols. The microbial
community in a suspended and biofilm form will be analysed by 16S-rRNA sequencing and
fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using Geobacter 16S-rRNA probes.
POSTER PO-35
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
135
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Long-term performance of primary
and secondary electroactive biofilms
using layered corrugated
carbon electrodes
Sebastian Riedl (1,#), André Baudler (1,#) and Uwe Schröder (1,*)
1. Institute for Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry, Technical University of Braunschweig,
Hagenring 30, 38106 Braunschweig
#. Both authors contributed equally
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The development of high performance biofilm electrodes for microbial fuel cells (MFC)
is fundamentally defined by two different approaches: A biological approach is based on
an improvement of the biofilm performance by means of sophisticated biofilm growth
procedures [1], while materials approaches are focused on surface modification [2,3] and
tailored 3D electrode structures [4]. With layered corrugated carbon (LCC), a product from
the carbonization of corrugated cardboard, Chen et al. proposed a promising 3D structure,
providing surface area for biofilm growth and sufficiently large channels for substrate supply
and product removal [5]. Using this material we investigated the behavior of biofilm electrodes
during a prolonged experimental period addressing the issue if a primary biofilm increases
its performance to eventually reach the current densities of a secondary biofilm after a
longer period of time. In this matter contradicting results of previous studies show either
leveling effects [6] or a sustained performance gain [7]. Furthermore, the issue of long-term
performance (e.g. risk of clogging of macrostructures induced by continuous biofilm growth)
of 3D electrodes such as corrugated carbon is addressed.
The performance of primary and secondary electroactive biofilms grown on layered corrugated
carbon electrodes studied over a period of several months is presented. All experiments were
performed with synthetic wastewater using acetate as carbon source. With an average projected
current density of 6.7 mA cm-2 the studied secondary electroactive biofilms outperformed the
primary biofilms (3.0 mA cm-2) over the entire experimental period, while both biofilms exhibited
a constant Coulomb efficiency of about 89%. The study further illustrates that three-dimensional
electrodes such as layered corrugated carbon allow a sustained long-term performance without
significant decrease in electrode performance.
References:
[1] Y. Liu, F. Harnisch, K. Fricke, R. Sietmann, U. Schröder, Biosens. Bioelectron., 2008, 24, 1012–1017.
[2] S. Cheng, B.E. Logan, Electrochem. Comm., 2007, 9, 492–496.
[3] K. Scott, G.A. Rimbu, K.P. Katuri, K.K. Prasad, I.M. Head, IChemE, Part B, 2007, 85, 481–488.
[4] J. Wei, P. Liang, X. Huang, Bioresource Technology, 2011, 102, 9335–9344.
POSTER PO-36
[5] S. Chen, G. He, Q. Liu, F. Harnisch, Y. Zhou, Y. Chen, M. Hanif, S. Wang, X. Peng, H. Hou, U. Schröder,
Energy and Environmental Science, 2012, 5, 9769–9772.
[6] C. Santoro, Y. Lei, B. Li, P. Cristiani, Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2012, 62, 8–16.
[7] L. Soussan, B. Erable, M.-L. Delia, A. Bergel, Electrochemistry Communications, 2013, 33, 35–38.
136
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Air cathode Microbial Fuel Cells
to recover energy from volatile
fatty acids from an effluent
of a hydrolytitc-acidogenic anaerobic
digester of wastewater sludge
P. Bosch-Jiménez (1), E. Borràs (2,*), K. Brüderle (3), E. Torralba (1), D. Gutiérrez (1), R. Shechter (4)
and A. Surribas (2)
1. Devices, Design and Engineering Unit. Leitat Technological Centre, 08225 Terrassa (Bcn, Spain).
2.Environmental and Bio Technologies Unit. Leitat Technological Centre, 08225 Terrassa (Bcn,
Spain).
3. Environmental Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering. Fraunhofer, 70569 Stuttgart
(Germany)
4. Emefcy Bio-energy Systems Ltd. 300889 Caesarea (Israel).
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Sewage sludge is produced as a result of the conventional activated sludge process. During the
process it is assumed that near 50% of the incoming carbon load is transformed into sludge.
The annual sludge produced in EU accounts for 10.000.000 tons dry solids. The management
of this sludge can account for 60% of the operation cost of a wastewater treatment plant
(WWTP). Sludge management has arisen as an environmental-sensitive problem during the
last decades. However, the paradigm is changing and wastewaters are increasingly recognized
as renewable source for the production of electricity, fuels and chemicals.
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) are two technologies that can be
implemented together to valorise sewage sludge. Within this context, some key European
SMEs have promoted the project “MFC4Sludge: Microbial Fuel Cell technologies for
combined wastewater sludge treatment and energy production” that is being carried out
under the EU-7th Framework Programme. The project aims to develop an innovative solution
consisting on a MFC coupled to a hydrolytic-acidogenic anaerobic digestion (HA-AD) to treat
sewage sludge from WWTPs while allowing a positive energy balance and a reduction of cost.
Air cathode MFCs employed in the project were designed according to a flat plate design.
In a first stage, cells performance was determined using synthetic wastewater containing
volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as substrate. Acetate, propionate, butyrate and valerate were studied
separately and in mixtures. Results so far, indicate that acetate has allowed maximum energy
recovery from synthetic wastewaters.
In a second stage, an effluent coming from a HA-AD has been employed to feed MFCs.
Acetate (64.4%), butyrate (22.9%) and propionate (6.46%) are main VFAs present in the
effluent. Validation of energy recovery feasibility from real effluent from HA-AD is expected to
be completed in the upcoming months.
POSTER PO-37
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137
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Metals as anode material
in Bioelectrochemical Systems
André Baudler (1,#), Igor Schmidt (1,#), Markus Langner (2), Andreas Greiner (2)
and Uwe Schröder (1,*)
1. Institute for Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry, Technical University of Braunschweig,
Hagenring 30, 38106 Braunschweig.
2. Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry II, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30,
95440 Bayreuth.
#. Both authors contributed equally
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Carbonaceous materials are widely used as anodes in Bioelectrochemical Systems [1, 2]. They
are biocompatible, have a good chemical inertness and electrochemical reversibility. These
materials can be produced from organic precursors in different forms and with large specific
surface areas. Nevertheless, the major weaknesses are the low mechanical strength and the
low electric conductivity. Both properties may make carbonaceous materials unfavorable
for large scale applications. In contrast the physical properties of metals are advantageous
in terms of conductivity, mechanical strength and formability. Using metals or metal alloys
as anode materials the above listed limitations may thus potentially be avoided [3]. This,
however, requires biocompatibility, electrochemical stability under the conditions in the
bioelectrochemical cell and electrochemical reversibility of the extracellular electron transfer
step.
In this study we performed a systematic evaluation of selected metals. Biotic as well as abiotic
characterizations were performed using electrochemical and microscopic methods.
References:
[1] J. Lei, P. Liang, X. Huang, Bioresour. Technol., 2011, 102, 9335-9344.
[2] M. Zhoua, M. Chia, J. Luob, H. Hea, T. Jin, J. Power Sources, 2011, 196, 4427-4435.
[3] S. F. Ketep, A. Bergel, A. Calmet, B. Erable, Energy Environ. Sci., 2014, 7, 1633-1637.
POSTER PO-38
138
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial reductive dechlorination
of 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA)
with graphite electrodes serving
as electron donors
Patrícia Leitão (1,2,3), Simona Rossetti (1), Henri Nouws (3), Anthony S. Danko (2),
Mauro Majone (4) and Federico Aulenta (1,*)
1. Water Research Institute (IRSA), National Research Council (CNR), Via Salaria km. 29.300, 00015
Monterotondo (RM), Italy
2. CIGAR, Department of Mining Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200465 Porto, Portugal
3. REQUIMTE, Institute of Engineering of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Rua Dr. António
Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
4. Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome,
Italy
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbon 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) is extensively used in
the production of vinyl chloride, a precursor in the chemical synthesis of polyvinylchloride
(PVC) and has also been used as a solvent and degreasing agent in a variety of industries.
Due to improper storage, handling, and disposal practices, 1,2-DCA has become one of
the most common soil and groundwater pollutants and has been identified as one of the 33
priority pollutants by the European Water Framework Directive and by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Bioremediation, via anaerobic reductive dechlorination, is one of the most promising
approaches for the treatment of groundwater contaminated with 1,2-DCA. This approach
typically requires the subsurface injection of fermentable substrates that serve as electron
donors to stimulate autochthonous microbial populations using 1,2-DCA as a respiratory
electron acceptor. However, this approach suffers of a number of drawbacks, including the
inefficient use of the added electron donors, stimulation of unwanted side reactions, and in
general, poor control over reaction conditions.
Molecular characterization of the microbial communities responsible for the electricity-driven
dechlorination of 1,2-DCA was carried out by using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)
techniques targeting known dechlorinating bacteria.
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139
POSTER PO-39
In order to overcome some of these limitations, the feasibility of using polarized graphite
electrodes as the sole electron donors for the microbial reductive dechlorination of 1,2-DCA
was tested. Although this bioelectrochemical approach has already been demonstrated
for other chlorinated contaminants such as trichloroethene (TCE), it has never before been
demonstrated for 1,2-DCA. Here, we have investigated the effect of the electrode potential,
in the range from -500 mV to -900 mV, vs. the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), on the
rate of 1,2-DCA dechlorination. Distribution of products was identified, as well as the yield
of electric current usage and overall energy efficiency of the process. Finally, the impact of
the addition of the redox mediator anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) on the microbial
reductive dechlorination process was also investigated, with the electrode polarized at -250
mV vs. SHE.
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Influence of the electron acceptor
availability in the electricity generation
of a Microbial Fuel Cell
Sara Mateo, Pablo Cañizares, Manuel A. Rodrigo and Francisco J. Fernández (*)
University of Castilla-La Mancha, Chemical Engineering Department
Avenida Camilo José Cela S/N. 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain.
Phone: +34 926295300 (Ext. 6350), Fax: +34 902204130
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Nowadays, wastewater treatments consume a high quantity of energy; however, wastewaters
contain energy itself, mainly in the form of biodegradable organic matter. The Microbial Fuel
Cell (MFC) technologies allow us to recover that energy at the same time that the pollutants
are oxidised.
The set-up used in this study consisted of two chambers (0.95 cm3 of volume the anodic
chamber and 0.5 cm3 of volume the cathodic chamber) separated by a proton exchange
membrane. Toray carbon papers were used as electrodes. The electrodes were connected
by an external resistance of 120 Ω. The anodic chamber was fed continuously with synthetic
wastewater with 343 mg COD/L.
In this work, the influence of the electron acceptor, in this case oxygen, in the performance of
a MFC was studied. First of all, the cathodic compartment was opened to the air. In this stage
the cell voltage, was an almost constant value of 2.74 mV. Then, the air inlet to the cathodic
compartment was limited. Although the experiment was expected to end due to the full
consumption of the oxygen, it was maintained almost constant in 2.05 mV. This could be due
to the permeability of the silicone tubing used to control the air supply in the cathode. To
deep inside the oxygen consumption at the cathode, the oxygen mass balance was studied.
The value of the Oxygen Uptake Rate ass 6.14 mg O2 dm-3 and value of the half-saturation
constant was about 111.81 mg O2 dm-3.
Results obtained during this work showed that when the cathodic chamber was open to
the air, the reaction carried out in the anodic compartment was the limiting one. On the
other hand, low oxygen concentration in the cathode reduces the cathodic reaction rate and
therefore limits the cell performance acting the cathode as the controlling stage.
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140
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Use of endogenous microflora to obtain
electric power
from waste-to-bioethanol slurry
in Microbial Fuel Cells
R.A. Nastro (1,*), D. Hodgson (2), V. Pasquale (1), S. Dumontet (1), M. Bushell (2)
and C. Avignone-Rossa (2)
1. Department of Science and Technology - Parthenope University of Naples, (Italy).
2. Department of Microbial and Cellular Sciences- University of Surrey, (UK).
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The awareness of the limitations of non-renewable resources as well as the limits to the
biosphere’s ability to absorb wastes are one of the basis of the growing interest in Microbial
Fuel Cell (MFC) technology, particularly in regards to their application to waste treatment.
Both municipal and industrial wastewaters, together with landfill leachate, have been used as
fuels in MFCs. Very few attempts have been made to apply such technology to solid waste
treatment, either municipal organic solid waste or industrial organic wastes. Corn, barley, oat,
rice, wheat, sorghum, and sugar cane are widely used in industrial processes as attractive
feedstocks for bio-ethanol production and cattle feed, generating large amounts of solid
waste. In this work, we studied the use of vegetable-to-bioethanol wastes slurry as feeds for
single- and double-chamber MFCs inoculated with endogenous microflora.
Single chamber MFCs with carbon fiber electrodes were fed with slurry composed of
distillers grain (26%), sterile distilled water (53%) and Phosphate Buffer Solution (PBS)
(21%). Pseudomonas asplenii, Bacillus oceanisediminis, Brevibacillus formosus, and Bacillus
alcalophilus were isolated from the anode of a single chamber MFC after one month of
operation and singularly tested for their ability to produce power in two-chamber MFCs.
Microbial suspensions were added to slurry liquid fraction, previously centrifuged and filtersterilized and singularly inoculated in 2-chamber MFCs. A “Mix” two-chamber MFC inoculated
with the four strains and a negative control were also prepared. An OCV of 0,720 V and a
maximum power of 1.8 W/m3 were achieved by P. asplenii strain while lesser performances were
obtained by the mix (488 mV in OCV, 0.5 W/m3). Our study demonstrates power production
from bioethanol waste and the influence of microbial consortia in MFCs performances.
POSTER PO-41
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141
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Biodegradation behaviour of Microbial
Fuel Cell-applied sludge
after electricity generation
Narong Touch (*), Tadashi Hibino, Yoshiyuki Nagatsu and Isse Kano
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 chome
4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone & Fax: +81-82-424-7818.
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) have emerged as an attractive future option for the anaerobic
oxidation of organic matter along with the electricity generation. A great deal of attention
has been paid to the possibility to accomplish the biodegradation of organic matter by the
electricity generation, while we aim at reporting the biodegradation behaviour of microbial
fuel cell-applied sludge after stopping the electricity generation. Such study may provide
useful information for the treatment of sludge with MFCs-based biotechnology.
Sewage-derived sludge (pH= 6.598, redox potential (ORP) = -409 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, carbon
content= 78.4 mg/g-dry sludge) was used to fill the bottom 60 mm (volume= 60 mm*4183
mm2) of sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC), and then supply water (volume= 60 mm*4183
mm2) was loaded into the top of the sludge. 16400 mm2 and 15000 mm2 of carbon cloth were
served as the anode and cathode electrodes, respectively. The electricity generation was
conducted using a potentiostat (fixing the current density at about 61 mA/m2). The sludge
conditions (e.g., pH, ORP, H2S concentration, oxygen reduction capacity (ORC)), polarization
curves, and cyclic voltammograms of the SMFCs were measured in order to reveal the
biodegradation of sludge.
There were the increase of ORP and the decrease of H2S concentration, indicating the oxidation
of reduced substances by the electricity generation. However, there were increases in ORC
and the exchange current density. These finding are consistent with published literature that
the biodegradation and bioactivities are enhanced by the electricity generation. Interestingly,
there were a temporal decrease in ORP, temporal increases in H2S concentration, the exchange
current density, and CV current after stopping the electricity generation. These suggest that
the biodegradation of organic matter is further occurred in the MFC-applied sludge due to
the improvement of bioactivities and the increase of oxidants by the electricity generation.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Studying microbial aggregation
and biofilm formation:
an integrated approach
Gal Schkolnik (1,2,3,*), Falk Harnisch (2), Niculina Musat (3), Matthias Schroeter1,
Hans-Herman Richnow (3), Hauke Harms (2), Stephan Herminghaus (1) and Marco G. Mazza (1)
1. Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Dynamics of Complex Fluids, Bunsen
Str. 10, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany
2. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Microbial Bioelectrocatalysis &
Bioelectrotechnology Group, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ,
Permoserstraße 15 I 04318 Leipzig, Germany
3. ProVIS, Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
– UFZ, Permoserstraße 15 I 04318 Leipzig, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Great progress has been made in recent years improving and upscaling microbial
bioelectrochemical systems on their way to applications. However, in order to enhance
the engineering process, the fundamentals of such systems and their core-component
– the electroactive biofilm, still have to be clarified. While our understanding of microbial
extracellular electron transfer (EET) in the biofilm has improved considerably, much remains
to be elucidated, such as: substrate transport, biofilm formation, growth and structure. To
answer some of these questions, we have created a trans-disciplinary collaboration, employing
methods from the fields of electrochemistry, biofilm research, and theoretical physics, resulting
in an integrated approach aimed at an improved understanding of electroactive biofilms.
Multiple methods and fields of expertise are being harnessed for an improved understanding
of these complex systems, with physical models serving to qualitatively and quantitatively
explain and predict observations made at various stages of bacterial aggregation and biofilm
formation.
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143
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Salinity and flow velocity effects
of catholyte on sediment Microbial
Fuel Cell performance
Yoshiyuki Nagatsu (*), Tadashi Hibino, Nobutaka Kinjo and Kenta Mizumoto
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1 chome
4-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone & Fax: +81-82-424-7818
Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells (SMFCs) have attracted great attention for its high feasibility
of renewable energy source and biodegradation technology. Physicochemical conditions of
catholyte are significant factors associated with energization or biodegradation efficiencies
of SMFCs. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of salinity and flow velocity of
catholyte (overlying water) on the SMFC performance. Such study may play a huge role in
field applications of SMFC-based technologies into riverbanks.
Sewage-derived sediment deposited on a riverbank (pH= 7.27, redox potential (ORP)=
-314 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, loss on ignition= 54.5 mg/g-dry sediment) was used to fill the anode
chamber (volume= 1.5 cm*880 cm2), and then the chamber was placed in a circulating water
channel (cross-section area= 900 cm2). 25 cm2 of carbon cloth was used as an electrode.
Overlying water with various salinities (0, 1, 5, 30 psu) was flowed with different velocities
(0, 3.5, 12.5 cm/s) in the circulating water channel. The polarization curves of SMFCs under
different conditions were measured to obtain exchange current densities (i0) and maximum
power densities (Pmax) of the SMFCs.
Pmax rose along with the increases of salinity under the non-flow conditions. This is consistent
with previous reports that the SMFC performance is enhanced by increasing the catholyteelectric conductivity. Interestingly, under flow conditions, i0 and Pmax of SMFCs were relatively
constant although the salinity was increased. On the other hand, under low salinity (0 and 1
psu) conditions, i0 and Pmax became 5-fold higher by increasing the flow velocity from 0 to 12.5
cm/s. It was found that the cathode performance was improved by the flow of catholyte. It can
be concluded that if SMFC is applied into riverbanks, the SMFC performance will be enhanced
by river water (fresh water) flow due to decreases in activation losses of the cathode electrode.
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144
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Engineering Pseudomonas putida
for oxygen-limited redox balancing
with an anode
for biotechnological application
Simone Schmitz, Salome Nies, Nick Wierckx, Lars M. Blank and Miriam A. Rosenbaum (*)
RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Applied Microbiology (iAMB) Worringerweg 1
52074 Aachen, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Pseudomonas putida can produce valuable lipids like rhamnolipids and polyhydroxyalkanoates.
But a significant obstacle for industrial production is the cost of aeration and the associated
foaming during fermentation. Therefore the possibility of growing P. putida under oxygenlimited conditions would be of great advantage for an industrial process.
In a bioelectrochemical system (BES), microbial catalysts are able to utilize an electrode as a
metabolic electron acceptor to enable respiration or redox balancing. Therefore, oxygen as
final electron acceptor becomes less important. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a close relative
to P. putida, is able to utilize the electrode via the production of pyocyanin, a redox-active
phenazine.
In order to enable de-novo synthesis of phenazines in P. putida, the core-phenazine synthesis
gene cluster (phzA-G) and two specific pyocyanin synthesis genes phzM and phzS from P.
aeruginosa were introduced into P. putida. The expression on two plasmids is controlled by
the use of inducible promoters. After induction of gene expression, pyocyanin production
in successful clones can be observed by blue colour formation. The best clone produced 45
mg/ mL over 25 h of growth, which is comparable to the pyocyanin production of wildtype P.
aeruginosa. The inducible promoter can be controlled by varying the inducer concentration
enabling a tight regulation of the pyocyanin production.
The engineered strain was physiologically and electrochemically characterized under
microaerobic and anaerobic conditions in our BES set-ups. Furthermore, redox balancing
at the anode in the engineered strain was compared to wildtype P. putida with or without
addition of exogenous pyocyanin.
An overall electron balance was calculated to monitor the electron flow over the system,
from the glucose to the current. Increased current generation compared to the wildtype
strain of P. putida was observed. However, the current generation does not account to the
overall electron balance, which indicates the existence of electron sinks. Further investigation
revealed an increased polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production by the engineered P. putida
strain, which is now further investigated.
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145
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A novel CoRuSe oxygen reduction
catalyst for power generation
in Microbial Fuel Cells
Shmuel Rozenfeld (1,*), Alex Schechter (2) and Rivka Cahan (1)
The Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
The Department of Biological Chemistry
Ariel University, 40700, ISRAEL
*. E-mail: [email protected]
In respective to the global energy crisis as a result of long exploitation of fossil energy sources
and increasing environmental awareness strengthens the need and importance of clean and
renewable energy-production technologies. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are being explored
as a technology for energy recovery and wastewater treatment based on electricity generation
from wastewater organics using exoelectrogenic bacteria. Anode for oxidation and Pt based
oxygen reduction cathode is the most commonly used catalysts. However the high cost of
Pt prohibits its use for commercial MFC applications. Some non-Pt compound metals have
been suggested as candidates for ORR in MFCs, and they have been extensively studied as
alternatives to Pt in conventional fuel cells for decades. In our study, we have synthesized
a new class of ternary compound composing of Cobalt, Ruthenium and Selenium based
oxygen reduction catalyst for MFC. The atomic ratio of these materials was varied and the
corresponding activity was characterized electrochemically by CV (cyclic voltammetry), LSV
(linear sweep voltammetry) and RDE (rotating disk electrode). MFC constructed according
to an H-cells design with Geobacter sulfurreducens anode fed with phenol or acetate as the
sole carbon source. The power obtained at 1 A/m2 were 0.27, 0.26, 0.23 and 0.22 (W/m2) for
Co3Ru2Se2, Co3RuSe2, Pt and Ru2Se respectively, using this MFC configuration.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial bioanode for toluene
degradation in marine environments
Matteo Daghio (1,2), Eleni Vaiopoulou (1), Sunil A. Patil (1), Andrea Franzetti (2)
and Korneel Rabaey (1)
1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000
Ghent, Belgium
2. Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences – University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza
1, 20126 Milan, Italy
Accidental oil spills can lead to considerable release of toxic petroleum hydrocarbons in marine
environments. Due to their recalcitrance under anoxic conditions in the sediment, oxidative
bioremediation strategies have been developed. Here we investigated an alternative anaerobic
strategy to remove monoaromatic hydrocarbons from marine environments by stimulating
the biodegradation with an electrode as solid electron acceptor. Using toluene as a model
compound, degradation was accomplished in microbial bioelectrochemical systems (BES) with
simultaneous current production. Glass BES reactors were set up using 1) toluene as target
compound and carbon source, 2) sediment collected from an hydrocarbon contaminated
marine site as microbial inoculum, and 3) artificial ocean water as growth medium. Anode
potentials of 0 mV and +300 mV (vs Ag/AgCl) were tested in order to check their influence on
current production, enrichment of electrocatalytically active microorganisms and hydrocarbon
degradation rate. Degradation of toluene was directly linked to current generation up to 33 µA
cm-2 for the reactors with the anode polarized at +300 mV (vs Ag/AgCl) and up to 30 µA cm-2
for the reactors with the anode polarized at 0 mV (vs Ag/AgCl), however over time decreasing
peak currents were obtained upon renewed spiking. In both the conditions a degradation
rate of 1 mg L-1 d-1 was observed. Cyclic voltammetry analyses indicated the development of
bioelectrocatalytic activity by the biofilm. Monitoring of sulfate/sulfide concentrations during
bioelectrochemical experiments suggested that sulfur metabolism might play an important
role in toluene degradation on a bio-anode, potentially leading to passivation over time.
Microbial characterization of the planktonic and anode-attached consortium by Illumina
sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene is in progress and will be presented at the meeting.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Characterization and interactions
of multi-species biofilm community
under different electrochemical
parameters in Microbial Fuel Cells
Anna Prokhorova (*), Kerstin Dolch and Johannes Gescher
Institute for Applied Biosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Exoelectrogenic bacteria play an important role in the bioremediation of contaminated
environments and in electricity production from organic waste streams in Microbial Fuel Cells
(MFC).
The aim of our work was the analysis interspecies interactions within mixed communities on
anode surfaces. We developed a dynamic, multi-species model for an exoelectrogenic biofilm
that includes the following bacteria: Shewanella oneidensis, Geobacter sulfurreducens and
Geobacter metallireducens. In order to better understand how these three strains functions
together on the anode surface and how much current they can produce in such collaboration,
a medium that allows for parallel growth of these strains was designed. Mixed cultures were
inoculated into the chambers in which lactate (12,5 mM) and propionate (5 mM) were the
electron donors and activated carbon electrode (C-TEX) was the only electron acceptor. When
the organic substrate was completely oxidized, a continuous flow with fresh medium was
applied. The planktonic and sessile community in the reactor was analyzed using quantitative
PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Moreover, we compared the community dynamics
under different galvanostatic conditions, since different working electrode potentials in the
range of -0,041 ÷ -0,441 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode were tested.
The results provide valuable insights into the different ecological niches of the three
exoelectrogenic organisms, the effects of long-term MFC operation on community dynamics,
as well as current production by multispecies biofilms.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The performance of microbial anodes
in municipal waste water:
pre-grown multispecies
biofilm vs. natural inocula
Joana Danzer (1), Anna Prokhorova (2), Kerstin Dolch (2), Johannes Gescher (2)
and Sven Kerzenmacher (1)
1. IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, Georges-KoehlerAllee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
2. Institute for Applied Biosciences, Department of Applied Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology, Fritz-Haber-Weg 2, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Commonly, microbial fuel cell anodes are inoculated e.g. with sludge or an acclimated
consortium of operating fuel cells [1]. The aim of the present work is to investigate the effect
of different inoculation strategies on the performance of anodes operated with municipal
waste water.
Inoculation was conducted with waste water or a mixture of activated sludge and sludge
from an anaerobic digester in the volume ratio 1:4. Furthermore, preincubation of anodes
with a biofilm that consists of G. sulfurreducens, G. metallireducens, and S. oneidensis was
evaluated as a third strategy. The genomes of these strains were equipped with a barcode
which enabled the quantification of cells belonging to the initial community at the end of
the experiment via quantitative PCR (qPCR). Chronoamperometry was performed at 30°C in
triplicates, using activated carbon cloth anodes. Thereto, a 25 ml flow-through reactor (HRT =
3-4h) was continuously fed with municipal waste water.
In a first experimental run, no inoculation was simultaneously compared to inoculation with
sludge, yielding similar current densities of (64 ± 2) µA cm-2 and (61 ± 6) µA cm-2, respectively
(after 14 days at 0.000 V vs. NHE).
In the second experimental run, a multispecies biofilm was pre-grown in a carbonate buffered
medium containing propionate and lactate, yielding current densities of (407 ± 21) µA cm-2
after 7 days of growth at 0.241 V vs. NHE. However, when consequently operated with waste
water, the current densities dropped to (65 ± 8) µA cm-2 (after 20 days at 0.000 V vs. NHE).
Unexpectedly, this value is comparable to the (81 ± 7) µAcm-2 recorded in a parallel control
experiment, where non-inoculated anodes were operated only with waste water. The qPCR
analysis of the remaining species in the biofilm showed that 99% of the pre-grown biofilm
detached over time. Currently, next generation sequencing is performed to obtain more
information about which bacterial strains replace the pre-grown biofilm.
References:
[1] A. Wang et al , Bioresour. Technol., 101 (2010) 5733–5735
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbiology of soil and sediment
Microbial Fuel Cells
Ángela Cabezas (1,*), Sofía Lawlor (2), Victoria Falco (1) and Javier Menes (2)
1. Departamento de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad ORT Uruguay,
Montevideo, Uruguay
2. Cátedra de Microbiología Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Montevideo,
Uruguay
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Soils and sediments containing organic matter have been employed to produce electrical
current in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC). This is possible due to the development of an anodic
biofilm which includes microorganisms capable of converting chemical energy directly into
electric current. Microbial communities of sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFC) have not
been thoroughly studied. Some authors have studied microbial communities associated to
anodes from marine and freshwater sediment microbial fuel cells and found a predominance
of Geobacter and Desulfuromonas. However, microbial communities on anodes from soil
microbial fuel cells have scarcely been studied even though soils are one of the major
microbial diversity reservoir. Moreover, isolation of electroactive bacteria from soils, sediments
and anodes are not usually performed. Most studies focus on single electroactive species have
been carried out with type strains that corresponded to predominant species identified in wild
electroactive biofilms and the electroactivity of reference stains does not necessary coincide
with the electroactivity of the native strain isolated from the MFC.
In this work we operate sediment microbial fuel cells using agronomic soil, forest soil, saline
sediment, freshwater sediment part of a wastewater treatment plant and rice field soil.
Microbial communities will be studied using T-RFLP and high throughput sequencing and
compared to open circuit controls. Moreover, bacteria will be isolated from anodes and directly
from soils and sediments and their electrochemical activity evaluated by chronoamperometry.
Data analysis of operation parameters of the SMFCs, biogeochemical parameters, anode
microbial communities and isolated electroactive bacteria will enable a better understanding
of microbial interactions in SMFC.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Variations on Serratia Microbial Fuel Cell
dual chamber performance
Ricardo J.H. Conceição (1,*) and Carla M.A.A. Carneiro (2,*)
1. Faculty of Science and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Setúbal School of Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal 2910-761 Setúbal, Portugal
*. E-mail: [email protected]
2. REQUIMTE/Centro de Química Fina e Biotecnologia, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
*. E-mail: [email protected]
This fundamental study focused on the performance of a dual chamber microbial fuel cell
(MFC) using a microorganism commonly found in soil and water – Serratia marcescens.
A classical dual chamber MFC with a cation exchange membrane containing a batch solution
of pure glucose, as sole organic compound, and methylene blue as mediator in the anodic
compartiment and potassium ferricyanide as catholyte was used.
Two types of electrodes – carbon fiber (35,00 cm2) and carbon steel (25,13 cm2) – electrodes
were tested. Besides the relative smaller area steel rods, give slightly higher – 317 mV –
potential when compared with 240 mV obtained using carbon fiber electrodes.
In order to evaluate NaCl influence in Serratia MFC performance a batch solution with 20 g·L-1
NaCl was used in both compartments (anode and/or cathode). Maximum voltage output 815 mV - was achieved by NaCl addition in the anodic compartment, comparing with 177
mV with no salt addition. When NaCl was present in both compartments current output was
approximately the same (806 mV). However NaCl addition in the cathodic compartment
produced slightly lower current outputs (780 mV) than those obtained by salt addition in the
anode.
The performance of two and three MFCs coupled together, in a serial configuration, was also
tested. The stack of three MFCs, without NaCl addition, resulted in higher values of voltage
output, with 1,650 V being the maximum with a current density of 139 mA·m-2; on the other
hand, two MFCs coupled together have only achieved 1,210 V, with a current density of 41
mA·m-2.
Also a new reactor configuration is currently being tested, in the same conditions previously
described.
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151
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electricity production with living plants
on a green roof: technological
performance of the Plant
Microbial Fuel Cell
Koen Wetser (1), Marjolein Helder (1,2), Cees Buisman (1) and David Strik (1,2)
1. Sub-department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9,
6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
2. Plant-e B.V., Tarthorst 823, 6708 JC Wageningen, Netherlands
The Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell (PMFC) is an emerging technology that utilizes solar energy
to produce green electricity. The PMFC is based on (rhizo)deposition of organic matter by
plants and electricity production from this organic matter by electrochemically active bacteria
in a microbial fuel cell. The PMFC can be implemented at sites where plants can grow and
sufficient water is available to maintain waterlogged conditions. An attractive application is
the Green Electricity Roof (GER) (Strik et al., 2011). By integrating the PMFC into a green roof
one establishes a new technology which has the potential to combine advantages of green
roofs with electricity production. These advantages include: creation of wetland biodiversity
on roofs, storm-water retention, cooling of the building and nature experience (Helder et al.,
2013b). In 2009 a spin-off company Plant-e was established to develop products and apply
the PMFC worldwide. This company developed from summer 2011 onwards a 25m2 pilot of
the GER at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology building in the Netherlands. Recently an early
stage LCA showed that increasing power output and deriving co-products from PMFC will
increase the environmental performance of the GER (Helder et al., 2013a). Objective of this
study was to investigate quantitatively the technological performance of the Green Electricity
Roof. Biodiversity, electricity generation, cooling (capacity) and storm water retention were
analysed. This study showed that, under changing biodiversity, electricity production remained
at a similar level for over 3 years. Next, cooling is an important benefit of the GER. Long term
electricity production is possible and electricity was harvested to charge cell-phone.
References:
[1] Helder, M., Chen, W.S., Van der Harst, E.J.M., Strik, D.P.B.T.B., Hamelers, H.V.M., Buisman,
C.J.N., Potting, J., 2013a. Electricity production with living plants on a green roof: Environmental
performance of the plant-microbial fuel cell. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining 7, 52-64.
[2] Helder, M., Strik, D.P.B.T.B., Timmers, R.A., Raes, S.M.T., Hamelers, H.V.M., Buisman, C.J.N., 2013b.
Resilience of roof-top Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells during Dutch winter. Biomass and Bioenergy.
[3] Strik, D.P.B.T.B., Timmers, R.A., Helder, M., Steinbusch, K.J.J., Hamelers, H.V.M., Buisman, C.J.N.,
2011. Microbial solar cells: Applying photosynthetic and electrochemically active organisms. Trends
in Biotechnology 29, 41-49.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial communites associated
to current production from biohydrogen
reactor effluent
Jorge Wenzel (1,*), Laura Fuentes (1), Ángela Cabezas (1,2) and Claudia Etchebehere (1)
1.Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable,
Montevideo, Uruguay.
2. Universidad ORT, Montevideo, Uruguay.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Dark fermentation is an incipient technology for bio-hydrogen production from carbohydraterich industrial wastewaters. However, more than 70% of its chemical oxygen demand remains
at the end of the process. A feasible alternative for this remnant is using it as substrate for
bio-electrochemical systems (BES). Likewise, to increase the efficiency of BES it is crucial to
study the microorganisms related to the process.
In this work we operated Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) using acetate, cheese whey (CW) and
cheese whey fed hydrogen producing bioreactor effluent (CWRE) as substrate. Anode microbial
communities of differents MFC, analysed using 454-pyrosequencing, were compared. Bacteria
were isolated from anodes in different culture media and identified using 16S rRNA gene
sequence. Polarization curves showed a maximal power density of 14.0 and 12.2 W/m3 for the
acetate and CWRE cells respectively. Current generation directly from CW was not feasible
probably due to a predominance of fermentative pathways.
The microbial community found on the CWRE fed bio-anode was more diverse than
acetate and CW anodes. At family level Clostridiaceae (36%) and Geobacteraceae (29%)
were predominant in acetate fed MFC. For CWRE fed MFC, predominant sequences of
Clostridiaceae (30%), Pseoudomonadaceae (14%) and Geobacteraceae (10%) families
were found. The predominant families for the CW fed MFC were Clostridiaceae (70%),
Streptococcaceae (13%) and Lactobacillaceae (6%).
43 strains were isolated from the anodes, 2 were identified as Geobacter and 15 as
Pseudomonas. However, other genera like Fusibacter and Achronobacter were also isolated
and its role in BES is not yet clear. Electrochemical analysis to validate current generation of
the newly isolates are projected.
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153
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Extreme environments of Northern Chile
as new sorurces of exoelectrotrophic
microorganisms
Javiera Anguita (1,2), Cristóbal Alvear (1,2), Eduardo Leiva (1,2), Claudia Rojas (2,3), John Regan (3),
Robert Nerenberg (4) and Ignacio Vargas (1,2,*)
1. Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable, Santiago.Chile.
2. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago. Chile.
3. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. USA.
4. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN. USA.
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone: (56 2) 26864218 - Fax: (56 2)23545876.
During the last years the range of application of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) has been
enlarged by using biocathodes not only to improve oxygen reduction, but also to remove
inorganic contaminants present in urban and industrial wastewater. Geothermal fields in the
north of Chile are natural sources of arsenic contamination and represent an opportunity to
find lithoautotrophic microorganisms able to use arsenic as the only electron donor, as well
as oxygen (aerobic) or perchlorate (anaerobic) as electron acceptors. These microorganisms
emerge as good candidates to develop biocathodes, reducing the cost of typically used
platinized cathodes and increasing the sustainability of BESs.
We used samples extracted from an arsenic contaminated geothermal source in northern Chile
to inoculate three electrode electrochemical cells used to enrich exoelectrotrophic bacteria.
Cathodes were fixed at different potentials (between -300 mV and 100 mV vs. SHE) using an
external power supply to maximize energy (as electron availability at the cathodic surface)
for microbial growth while avoiding hydrogen generation at the cathode. Epifluorescence
and electron microscopy confirm cathodic biofilm development. Electrochemical tests
(i.e. chronoamperometry, linear sweep voltammetry) suggest improvements in cathode
performance due to microbial activity. DNA samples were collected from electrodes, and
molecular techniques are being performed to allow a characterization of the cathodic microbial
biofilms.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Discovering novel exoelectrogen
from Red Sea
Noura A. Shehab, Gary L. Amy and Pascal E. Saikaly (*)
Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Understanding the microbial ecology of exoelectrogens is essential for the biological
optimization of power density in Microbial Fuel Cells. Also, it is important to discover new
microbes that are capable to transfer electrons out of their out of their cells. In Microbial
Electrochemical Systems, microorganisms are primarily responsible of electricity production,
making reasonable to look for bacteria capable of effective performance in diverse
environments such as the brine pools of the Red Sea. This is the first study to explore the Red
Sea as a novel source of exoelectrogenic bacteria. Samples from three brine pools: Atlantis II,
Valdivia, and Kebrit Deeps, were analyzed using Microbial Electrochemical Cells, with a poised
potential at +0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) and acetate as electron donor, to evaluate the exoelectrogenic
activity by the present microorganisms. Samples from Valdivia Deep were able to produce a
noticeable current of 6 A/m2, along with acetate consumption and changes on the redox
activity measured with cyclic voltammetry, providing arguments to confirm the presence of
exoelectrogenic bacteria in this environment. Further characterization using microscopy and
molecular biology techniques are conducted to obtain the most amount of information about
these microorganisms and their potential use to improve bioelectrochemical technologies.
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electroactive bacteria selection
by multi-stage culture gradostat system
Zulema Borjas (1,*), Juan Manuel Ortiz (2), Amor Larrosa (1) and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,3)
1. IMDEA WATER, Parque Científico-Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares,
Madrid, Spain
2. FCC Aqualia, S.A., Madrid, Spain
3. Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Selection of electrogenic bacteria from the environment should be accelerated by having a lab
system able to reproduce structured ecosystems which are normally spatially heterogeneous,
particullary in terms of substrates distribution. In the past a number of systems have been
reported to reproduce reliable natural environments for microbial culture [1-3].
One of the most interesting systems, the so-called gradostat, was developed [4] and innovated [5]
with the aim of simulating real conditions in the laboratory,. The gradostat is based on multistage
chemostat principles which consists of a series of interconnecting stirred reactors. The innovation
key-point is the possibility to stablish opposing solute gradients having a bidirectional flow of
different media from each end-unit bioreactor. The gradostat is an open system with a enormeous
value in microbial ecological studies since it allows to investigate the kinectics of steady-state
behaviour while isolating populations under a dynamic selection method.
Taking into account the preference of electrogenic bacteria for poised electrodes [6], the
present work gives a description of a hybrid system of gradostat and microbial electrochemical
technology (MET) for the study of the most favourable environment as well as for the
selection of most suitable electroactive microorganisms. Our system consists on five stirred
interconnected bioreactors run under continuous culture where end-units were fed by media
of different composition. In addition, each of the five bioreactor host a three-electrode system,
poised at a potential set by a potentiostat.
So thus, the gradostat provides a useful tool for simultaneously monitoring the electrogenic
response of microbial populations cultured under a dynamic selection process.
References:
[1] Bazin, M.J. & Saunder, P.T. Dynamics of nitrification in a continuousflow system. Soil Biology and
Biochemistry 5, 531-543 (1973).
[2] Caldwell, D.E. & Hirsh, P. Growth of microorganisms in two-dimensional steady-state diffusion
gradients. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 19, 53-58 (1973).
[3] Esteve-Núñez, A., Mary Rothermich, Manju Sharma and Derek Lovley (2005). Growth of Geobacter
sulfurreducens under nutrient-limiting conditions in continuous culture. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
7(5), 641-648
[4] Cooper, D.G. & Copeland, B.J. Responses of a continuous series of estuarine microsystems to pointsource input variantions. Ecological Monographs 43, 213-236 (1973).
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[5] Lovitt, R. W. & Wimpenny, J. W. T. The gradostat: a tool for investigating microbial growth and
interactions in solute gradients. Society for General Microbiology Quarterly 6, 80 (1979).
[6] Bond, D.R. Lovley, D.R. Electricity production by Geobacter sulfurreducens attached to electrodes.
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69, 1548-55 (2003).
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial Electroremediating Cells
(MERC): strategies to biominerilized
C herbicides in soils by stimulating
microbial electrogenic communities
José Rodrigo (1), Ainara Domínguez-Garay (1), Reiner Schroll (3)
and Abraham Esteve-Núñez (1,2)
1. University of Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
2. IMDEA water, Parque Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares,
Madrid, Spain.
3. Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH),
Institute of Soil Ecology, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) show tremendous potential for utilization in environmental
application. Sedimentary Microbial Fuel Cells (sMFC), one of this BES, use electrodes to supply
the electron acceptors required for contaminant biodegradation in contaminated soils, where
the organic pollutants play the fuel role for microbial electrogenic communities. We propose
to name this kind of bioelectrochemical devices as Microbial Electro Remediating Cell (MERC).
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as dibenzothiophene (DBT) [1], and chloroaromatic
compounds as the herbicides diuron and atrazine were shown to be efficiently biodegraded
under electrogenic conditions in our laboratory, showing rates 10-times faster by using
electrogenic approaches in contrast with the natural biodegradation.
Here, I will review the results of our recent investigation on the use of MERC for in situ
bioremediation of 14C herbicides. Radiolabelled compounds allow us to control the pollutant
fate and establish a strict carbón mass balance. For monitoring that processes we have
designed a special set up, adapting the MERC to a closed laboratory system in order to
monitor the chemistry of the pollutant together with the bioelectrochemical response.
The effective bioremediation task was confirmed by measuring the 14C radioactivity, followed
by soil extraction and HPLC-radio detector analysis to identify 14C-metabolites. Finally, the
residual radioactivity bound to the soil was determined by combustion processes. The results
support the concept of bioelectrochemical-enhanced remediation, due to the intensive
mineralization of IPU detected in our assays.
References:
[1] Rodrigo, J., Boltes, K. and Esteve-Núñez, A. (2014) Microbial-electrochemical bioremediation and
detoxification of dibenzothiophene-polluted soil. Chemosphere, 101, 61-65
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2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A novel amperometric BOD sensor based
on Geobacter-dominated biofilms
Audrey S Commault (1,*), Gavin Lear (2) and Richard J. Weld (1)
1. Lincoln Agritech Ltd., Lincoln University, Christchurch 7640, New Zealand
2. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The theoretical amount of biodegradable compounds in water is termed the biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) and is commonly measured using a conventional five-day assay (BOD5),
which is inappropriate for a real-time monitoring of the water quality in treatment plants. In
this context, we developed a new type of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) sensor using
a specially selected Geobacter-dominated biofilm as the biocomponent. The Geobacterdominated biofilm was selected with ethanol as the sole carbon source, showing the same
electron transfer efficacy, but higher microbial diversity than a Geobacter-biofilm selected with
acetate. A microbial electrolysis cell was used as the transducer. The biosensor operated at a
fixed potential of -0.36 V vs Ag/AgCl while the total charge transferred by the biofilm at room
temperature was measured. After calibration using several dilutions of synthetic wastewater
with known BOD, the charge transferred by the biofilm over a reaction time of 17.5 h was
proportional to BOD concentrations which ranged from 174 mg/L to over 1000 mg/L. The
biosensor was accurate for BOD measurement of ethanol medium, wastewater and milk.
It measured the BOD of cow’s milk with a reproducibility of 94% and an error of only 7.4%
compared to BOD5 values. The low sensitivity of the sensor and the length of the test were,
however, two major limitations requiring further study. The detection limit of 174 mg/L was
reduced to 153 mg/L by increasing the applied potential to 0 V and the temperature to
30°C. In these conditions, the measurement was done in just 6 h instead of 17.5 h without
significantly impacting the accuracy of the sensor. This method is substantially more rapid
than the 5-day BOD5 assay. Our novel biosensor could offer a good alternative to standard
methods for the real-time monitoring of the BOD.
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Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
DoE based process design
for bioelectrochemical applications
T. Krieg (*), A. Sydow, M. Stöckl, D. Kleine, T. Zschernitz, J. Schrader and D. Holtmann
DECHEMA Research Institute, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486 Frankfurt (Germany)
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Process design is crucial to bring bioelectrochemical systems to the next level of technical
applicability. Many factors and their interactions with each other are influencing these processes
such as reactor geometry (e.g. electrode distance or flow patterns), media composition (e.g.
salt concentration influencing conductivity and activity of biocatalysts) or electrochemical input
(e.g. potential, current density). Due to this complexity a modeling of the whole system is often
not feasible. With a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach an empiric mathematical model
can be created to control a specific process. The complex system is viewed as a black box,
where only the input and the output of the system are considered for modeling. Significant
factors are identified and unimportant ones can be eliminated. Here we report a DoE based
process design approach for the optimization of bioelectrochemical reactors, which enables
a better understanding of important factors in these systems.
POSTER PO-59
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
159
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Anode materials for Microbial
Fuel Cells – high tech vs. low cost
Andreas Vogl (1,2,*), Elena Michel (1), Franz Bischof (1) and Marc Wichern (2)
1. Technical East Bavarian University of Applied Sciences (OTH) Amberg-Weiden, Kaiser-WilhelmRing 23, 92224 Amberg, Germany
2. Chair of Urban Water Management, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801
Bochum, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected] - Phone: +49 9621 482 3510
In recent BES-research MFCs for electricity generation have been progressively displaced in
favor of MECs and electrochemically enhanced biosynthesis for the creation of added value
products and the development of biosensors. MFCs are more and more considered to be
economically infeasible. As MFCs are often compared in terms of power densities great efforts
have been made to set new records in power generation. However, for a real MFC application
it is not the power densities that matters, it is the cost-benefit ratio. MFC systems and materials
should be compared not by Wm-2 but W€-1. Our study compared different materials for their
suitability as MFC anodes; primarily focusing on maximizing the cost-benefit-ratio rather than
the power densities. Mass-produced carbon based materials (felt, fiber tow, paper, packed
bed activated carbon); stainless steel products (mesh, wool) and high tech nanostructured
materials (aerographite, buckypaper) were investigated. Power densities of the materials were
all in the same order of magnitude varying from 175.6 ±15.5 µW to 279.2 ±8.1 µW. Material
costs per anode, however, varied by a factor of 5800 from one cent to 58 €. Packed bed
activated carbon and carbon fiber tow (roving) proofed to be the best choices for an MFC
anode; both in terms of power densities as well as cost efficiency with a 16- and 12-fold better
cost-benefit-ratio than carbon felt, respectively. Stainless steel is an interesting alternative to
carbon based materials. It provided near equal power at a 3-fold better cost-benefit ratio.
Aerographite is well suited as an anode in terms of material properties, however, difficult in
handling. The strong hydrophobia caused by the structure of the material requires a wetting
in vacuum prior to inoculation which can damage the fragile material. Due to its high cost it is
currently unsuitable for any practical MFC application.
POSTER PO-60
160
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Electrolytic membrane extraction
enables fine chemical production
from biorefinery sidestreams
Stephen J. Andersen (1,#,*), Tom Hennebel (1,2,#), Sylvia Gildemyn (1), Marta Coma (1),
Joachim Desloover (1), Jan Berton (3), Junko Tsukamoto (3), Christian Stevens (3),
and Korneel Rabaey (1,*)
1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000
Ghent, Belgium
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 407 O’Brien Hall, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720-1716, USA
3. SynBioC, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University,
Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
#. These authors contributed equally
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected] - Tel. +3292645985
Here we demonstrate a microbial electrochemical and reactive extraction processing pipeline
for extracting and upgrading short chain carboxylates from fermentation broth, sidestreams
and wastes. This technology would allow a biorefinery to generate added value esters from
wastes that are generally directed to anaerobic digestion. The pipeline can be considered
as two parts: (i) Membrane Electrolysis, an electrochemical treatment step where water
electrolysis counters acidification while driving fermentation products across an ion exchange
membrane, and (ii) Biphasic Esterification, a reactive extraction technique that increases the
value and volatility of the carboxylic acids through esterification. The technique is directly
applicable to modern fermentation and biorefinery sidestreams, but also in cutting edge
industrial biotechnology. Two examples include microbial electrosynthesis, where microbial
communities upgrade carbon dioxide to acetate, powered by an electrical input; and microbial
chain elongation, where a mixed community upgrades acetate to butyrate, and butyrate to
caproate. In both cases, the Microbial Electrolysis and Biphasic Esterification pipeline could
extract and valorize the end product.
POSTER PO-61
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
161
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial desalination cell using
an alternative electron acceptor
in cathode chamber: experimental results
and theoretical behaviour
J.M. Ortiz (1,*), A Larrosa-Guerrero (2), Z. Borjas (2), E. Maneiro (1) and A. Esteve-Nuñez (3)
1. Aqualia, Gestión Integral del Agua, S.A. Avenida del Camino de Santiago, 40, Building 3. 4th
Floor, 28050, Madrid (Spain)
2. IMDEA Water C/Punto Net, 4, Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Alcalá,
28805, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain)
3. Departamento de Química, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28805, Alcalá de
Henares, Madrid (Spain)
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial Desalination Cells (MDCs) are bioelectrochemical devices where waste water biological
treatment can be effectively coupled to desalination of a saline stream. A MDC is comprised by an
electrodialysis unit cell allocated in a microbial fuel cell, in which at least one of the electrodes, normally
the anode, host a biofilm to produce the electrochemical oxidation of the organic matter dissolved in
waste water. By using the electric potential generated in the microbial cells, the migration of the ions is
enhanced and desalination is achieved. MDC could be operated with different cathode reactions, being
oxygen reductions the common strategy implemented in MDC studies available in literature.
The aim of this communication is to show the performance of a Microbial Desalination Cell
operating with an alternative electron acceptor in cathode compartment, as alternative of oxygen
reduction reaction. Alternative electron acceptors are interesting for bio-electrochemical systems, as
they could increase system performance and some of them could be easily regenerated using renewable
energy. This study give insights into the MDC behaviour under different experimental conditions,
and it helps to identify the main drawbacks when different electron acceptors are used.
POSTER PO-62
162
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A dynamic 2D mathematical model
for tubular-air cathode Microbial Fuel
Cells using conduction-based approach
for electrons transfer to the biofilm
and volatile fatty acids as substrate
Marta Macias Aragonés (*), Carlos Leyva Guerrero and Alejandro J. del Real Torres
IDENER, C\ Leonardo da Vinci 18, CP.41092, Sevilla, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
A mathematical model has been produced and is currently being validated for a tubular-air
cathode Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC). Such model is a 2D dynamic model, hence allowing to
simulate the MFC operation through time and providing the chance of implementing further
control strategies such as Model Predictive Control.
Main issues covered by the model are:
•M
FC morphology: single chamber tubular air-cathode. Specifically, these cells have an
anodic chamber which contains the anolyte and where the biofilm grows attached to the
anode. The cathode is in direct contact with the anolyte on one side and with air flow on
the other side, hence oxygen is the electron acceptor. The water produced through the
cathodic reaction flows to the anolyte and is eliminated through the outlet of the MFC
along with the treated substrate. Thus, the anode is modelled as a plug flow reactor
while cathode is modelled using a CSTR approach. 2D are considered, namely the x-axis
related to the length of the MFC and the z-axis related to the biofilm thickness
•E
lectron transference: a conduction-based approach is considered and, accordingly, the
biofilm is characterised by a conductivity factor Kbio
•M
FC substrate: a sludge pre-treated through a partial anaerobic digestion is considered
as the influent of the MFC, i.e., a stream rich in volatile fatty acids (acetate, propionate
and butyrate are included in the model as substrates)
•M
FC microorganisms/biofilm: active and inactive biomass are considered in the model
as well as the differentiation between Electrogenically active bacteria and Methanogenic
bacteria
This first-principles based model has been discretised for x and z-axis dependent variables and
implemented in Matlab using a Zero Order Hold approach. Validation using real data from an
operating MFC is expected to be completed in the upcoming months.
POSTER PO-63
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
163
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Scaled-up Microbial Fuel Cells
for swine manure treatment
and bioenergy production
A. Vilajeliu-Pons (1), S. Puig (1,*), I. Salcedo-Dávila (2), M.D. Balaguer (1) and J. Colprim (1)
1. LEQUiA, Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.
2. AbengoaWater SLU, Dos Hermanas, Sevilla. Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are one of the newest and most promising bio-approaches that
remove organic matter and nitrogenfrom wastewaters with electricity generation.Due to the
knowledge obtained so far using small-scale reactors,the interest on MFC scaling-uphas
increased considerably.This study aimed to demonstrate that MFCs technology can beapplied
to real systemstreating swine manure.
A stacked MFC of 60L was designed and operated to treat 50 L·d-1 of swine manure. Organic
matter was oxidised in theanode compartments, ammonium was oxidized to nitrate in an
external aerated reactor, and nitrate was reduced to dinitrogen gas at the biocathodes.
The MFCs were electrically connected in parallel with a resistance of 1.5 Ohms to allow the
maximum intensity transfer from the anode compartments to the cathodes.
Anode compartments operated at 5 g COD L-1 d-1, oxidizing 0.7 g COD L-1 d-1. Nitrogen
removal rate was 0.2 g N L-1 d-1 without intermediate products production (neither nitrite nor
nitrous oxide).In the external reactor nitrification was complete reaching efficiencies over 90%.
The MFCproduced 300 mW·m-3 with a corresponding current density of 2.7 A·m-3.
The scaled-up MFCs were assessed in terms of overall removal efficiency, treatment capacity,
electricity production, microbial community and electrochemical characterization, and carbon
and energy footprints. This is one of the first studies on scaled-up MFCs for waste treatment.
The results allowed a better understanding of the real potential of this technology and
determining the challenges of scaling-up MFCs for swine manure treatment.
POSTER PO-64
164
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Effect of hydrodynamics on MFC
microbial community
A. Vilajeliu-Pons (1,*), S. Puig (1), A. Vilà (1), D. Molognoni (2), L. Bañeras (3), M.D. Balaguer (1)
and J. Colprim (1)
1. LEQUiA, Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.
2. Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (D.I.C.Ar.), University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
3. Molecular Microbial Ecology Group, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Girona,
Spain
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) have been studied in terms of nutrient removal, electricity
production and microbial community characterization. Nowadays, multidisciplinary
approachesare adopted for in-deep MFCs understanding.In particular, Computational Flow
Dynamics (CFD) has been used to study hydrodynamics influence on MFCsperformance
but never includingorganic matter dynamics, proton transport and community (anodophilic
and methanogenic) distribution within the MFC compartments. This study integrates for
the first time the knowledge obtained using CFD modelling with the microbial community
characterization of the anode of a MFC treating swine manure.
A dual-chamber MFC with aerated cathodewas built and continuously fed at 1.5 L·d-1. Organic
matter was oxidised in the anode compartment, while oxygen was reduced at the cathode.
The MFC was electrically connected with a resistance of 30 Ohm. Microbial samples were
extracted from different points of the anode to determine variations in the community. Bacteria
and Archaea 16S rRNA geneswere amplified and analysed by pyrosequencing and quantified
by q-PCR.
Concentrations oforganic matter and protons were determinedincluding a biological model
within the CFD model.Non-homogeneous acetate and protons concentrations profiles were
obtained within the anode chamber. Bacteria and Archaea diversities and abundancesvaried
depending on the concentration of substrate. High methanogenic abundance was foundwhere
high organic matter was present.Instead, anodophilic bacteriashowed higher abundance at
lower organic matter concentration.This study makes a breakthrough in a deep knowledge of
internal flow and substrates dynamics and their influence on microbial community distribution
in MFCs.
POSTER PO-65
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
165
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
An air-breathing cathode based
on buckypaper electrodes
with reversibly adsorbed laccase
Elena Kipf, Thorsten Messinger, Sabine Sané and Sven Kerzenmacher (*)
Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University
of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Previously, we presented buckypaper electrodes with reversibly adsorbed laccase as promising
cathodes for biofuel cell applications [1]. This concept is particularly advantageous, since
the periodic exchange of the enzyme solution against fresh enzymes can help to overcome
the limited lifetime caused by denaturation of the enzymatic biocatalyst. Here, we present
the development of a corresponding air-breathing cathode, which enables passive operation
without energy-intensive aeration of the catholyte.
Thereto, buckypaper electrodes [2] were equipped with a 0.5 mm thin silicone membrane
as diffusion layer which enables sufficient oxygen supply but prevents salt crust formation
and electrolyte leakage [3]. As catholyte 0.1 M Na-acetate buffer (pH 5) containing 3.6 U/mL
laccase from T. versicolor (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany) was used in two different configurations.
The setup with 20 mL catholyte volume was operated in batch mode, similar to previous
experiments with active aeration. In addition, a thin flat-plate configuration with minimized
ohmic resistance and a small catholyte volume of only 0.29 mL was investigated in batch and
continuous mode.
The batch-type air-breathing cathode with 20 mL volume yielded ~78 µA/cm² at 0.4 V vs. SCE,
which is in the same range as corresponding electrodes in actively aerated laccase solution
[1]. In comparison, the flat-plate cathode with smaller catholyte volume yielded only ~12 µA/
cm² in batch-mode. This indicates that not enough laccase was supplied to the electrode to
sustain higher current densities. However, by applying a continuous laccase flow through the
catholyte chamber (HRT: 3.5h), the current density could be increased to ~53 µA/cm2 at 0.4 V
vs. SCE. This underlines that the performance is governed by the amount of enzymes available
for adsorption.
In the next step, optimum flow-rates for the advantageous flat-plate configuration will be
identified, and the long-term stability of the air-breathing cathode with continuous supply of
fresh laccase will be investigated.
References:
[1] S. Sané, et al., ChemSusChem, 6 (2013) 1209-1215
[2] Hussein et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 13 (2011) 5831–5839
[3] Kipf et al., Proceedings of MFC 4 (2013), 58-59
POSTER PO-66
166
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
The different roles of the cathodic
biofilm in air cathode
Microbial Fuel Cells
Laura Rago, Nuria Montpart, Juan Antonio Baeza and Albert Guisasola (*)
Departament d’Enginyeria Química, EE, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra,
Barcelona, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The observation of a naturally appearing biofilm on the cathode surface is common in single
chamber air-cathode MFC. In contrast to the anodic biofilm, little is known about the cathodic
biofilm properties. Dissolved oxygen microsensor measurements reveal presence of oxygen in
the inner layers of the biofilm near the cathode. Then, cathodic biofilm is developed because
both carbon source and oxygen are available on the cathode surface. The different roles
of the cathodic biofilm in the MFC efficiency will be deeply discussed in the full proposal.
The cathodic biofilm, which a priori could be considered detrimental due to the organic
matter consumption, prevents oxygen diffusion into the anode surroundings achieving higher
performance. The possible catalytic role of the cathodic biofilm is also explored, observing a
consistent increase in cathode overpotential when the biofilm develops, which indicates the
lack of catalytic properties.
An additional role of the cathodic biofilm is reported by the first time: oxygen availability in
the cathode is related to biological 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES) degradation. This work will
show several experimental observations on how BES was degraded in a MFC but not in a MEC
with the same microbial community, suggesting biological BES degradation due to aerobic
conditions in the biofilm layers next to the cathode. BES degradation at different rates (from
0.5 to 1.3 mM BES/d) was linked to Br- release to the medium with an average Br- recovery of
70±1% and 20±5% of sulfate recovery. The decrease in BES concentration, which is widely
used to prevent methanogenesis at lab-scale, may lead to unexpected methane formation
in MFC. The full proposal will discuss the biofilm roles according to its microbial distribution.
For instance, a microbial analysis on the cathodic biofilm revealed presence of Pseudomonas
and Alcaligenes that can use sulfonates as carbon or sulfur source under aerobic conditions.
POSTER PO-67
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
167
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A comparative study of the performance
of commercial carbon felt
and the innovative carbon-coated Berl
saddles as anode electrode in MFC
D. Hidalgo (1,2), T. Tommasi (1,*), V. Karthikeyan (2,3) and B. Ruggeri (2,*)
1. Center for Space Human Robotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia @POLITO, Torino, Italy
2. Applied Science and Technology Department, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
3. Applied Science and Technology Department, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
*. E-mail: [email protected] - [email protected]
Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a prospective technology that allows oxidizing organic and
inorganic matter to generate current by the activity of bacteria with a high potential as
portable remote energy generation. To render MFC as a cost-effective and energy sustainable
technology, low-cost conductive materials can be employed as support for bacterial
growth and proliferation. For this reason, in this work we performed a comparative study
of the performance between commercial carbon felt and the innovative carbon-coated Berl
saddles (C-Berl saddles) developed in our labs [1] used as anode electrode in MFC. Both the
experiments were conducted simultaneously using the same MFC configuration in continuous
mode for more than 3 months at room temperature (22 ± 2 °C). In the anodic chamber, a mixed
microbial population naturally present in sea water was employed as active microorganisms
and sodium acetate (1 g.L-1 per day) with buffer solution was continuously fed as substrate. In
the cathodic chamber, carbon felt was used as electrode material and potassium ferricyanide
with buffer solution as an electron acceptor. A complete characterization of anodic solution
was carried out with continuous measurement of pH, conductivity and redox potential.
Electrochemical characterization were performed as a follow: (i) polarization curves including:
Linear Sweet Voltammetry, Current Interrupt and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
using a multi-channel VSP potentiostat by BioLogic and (ii) current and voltage under an
external resistance of 1000 Ω using a Data Acquisition Unit by Agilent 34972A. Results showed
that C-Berl saddles performed better than carbon felt showing an average maximum power
density of 90 mW.m-2 and 60 mW.m-2, respectively. In addition, from current vs. time data both
cells were produced a comparable quantity of energy, linked to the good biocompatibility,
conductibility and high mechanical stretching of electrode materials. Furthermore, C-Berl
saddles helped to reduce the biofouling and favored the growth of biofilm as anode material
for scaling-up MFC.
References:
[1] Streamlining of commercial Berl saddles: a new material to improve the performance of microbial
fuel cells. Energy (2014). Manuscript accepted and under publication.
POSTER PO-68
168
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Fabrication of high surface area carbon
electrodes with tunable and well defined
properties by electrospinning
Johannes Erben, Sven Kerzenmacher (*) and Simon Thiele
Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering, University
of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Recent studies showed that the anodic current production with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1
can be improved with high surface area anode materials such as knitted activated carbon [1]
and electrospun carbon fiber mats [2]. The current generation of such varies strongly with the
material properties, e.g. electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) or electrical conductivity
[3]. To obtain reproducible results it is therefore mandatory to precisely control the material
properties. Therefore, we present an according electrode fabrication process that comprises
electrospinning with a custom hot-air assisted apparatus and subsequent carbonization.
Our process enables to tune carbon fiber diameters between 120 nm ± 78% and 1072 nm
± 13% by adjusting the polymer concentration (Polyacrylonitrile). The area density of the
obtained fiber mats is not uniform along the axis of the rotating collector. The fiber deposition
patterns on the collector for three polymer concentrations were analyzed in order to quantify
material inhomogeneities. Area density variations 9 cm around the center of the collector are
always smaller than 7%. The variations increase towards the edges of the collector to values
as high as 55%. For same fiber diameters, the sheet resistance varies between 2.40 Ω ± 5%
and 2.76 Ω ± 20%. The ECSA (estimated by cyclic voltammetry [3,4] depends strongly on the
fiber diameter. The variation within the samples of one fiber diameter is between 11% and
16%. Normalized to the area density the variations drop to about 5%.
Our results show that the electrospinning fabrication process is subject to high variations.
This underlines the need to optimize the process chain in order to fabricate electrodes with
precisely controlled and tunable properties. In future work, these optimized electrodes will be
subject to bio-electrochemical characterization.
References:
[1] E. Kipf et al., Bioresour. Technol., 146 (2013) 386-392
[2] S. A. Patil et al., Bioresour. Technol., 132 (2013) 121-126
[3] J. N. Roy et al., Electrochim. Acta, 126 (2013) 3-10
[4] S. Brocato et al., Electrochim. Acta, 61 (2012) 44-49
POSTER PO-69
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
169
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Microbial acclimation
to concentrated human urine
in Bio-electrochemical System
S.G.Barbosa (1), L. Peixoto (1), M.A. Pereira (1), A. Ter Heijne (2), P. Kuntke (2) and M.M. Alves (1)
1. Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar 4710-057, Braga,
Portugal
2. Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Agora 1, 1113, 8900
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
The aim of this study is to promote the gradual acclimation of bioelectroactive microorganisms
in BES to concentrated human urine, and to assess different anode potentials and carbon
materials in Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MEC). Human urine is highly concentrated in nutrients,
representing more than 80% of the total N load and around 45% of the total P load in
municipal wastewater. Separation of urine from other wastewater streams is an interesting
option to keep these valuable nutrients concentrated, in order to develop a suitable nutrient
recovery concept.
This work is integrated in the Value from Urine (VFU) concept, where phosphate is recovered
from source segregated human urine through struvite precipitation and ammonia is recovered
in a Bio-electrochemical System (BES). Enrichment of an anaerobic sludge community in
urine-degrading-electroactive microorganisms was promoted in an Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)
operated with increasing concentrations of real human urine (after phosphorous removal,
as struvite). This acclimated electroactive biofilm was used to inoculate the anode of MECs,
aiming at H2 and ammonia production in the cathode compartment. Different carbon modified
anodes and defined anode potentials were assessed in terms of performance and microbial
diversity of the developed electroactive biofilms.
POSTER PO-70
170
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Influence of anodic electrode surface
properties on bacterial colonization
and biofilm formation in Microbial
Electrochemical Cells
Veer Raghavulu Sapireddy and Dónal Leech (*)
School of Chemistry & Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road,
Galway, Ireland.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Performance of Microbial Electrochemical Cells is influenced by colonization and biofilm
formation of electroactive bacteria on anodes. We report here on how surface properties
influence biofilm formation and catalytic response of electroactive bacteria using anaerobic
sludge as an initial inoculum. Carbon electrode surfaces are modified by in-situ diazotization,
and subsequent electro-reduction of 4-aminophenethylamine (to yield positive charge; -NH3+),
3-(4-aminophenyl)propionic acid (to yield negative charge; -COO−) and 3-(4-aminophenyl)
ethanol (to yield polar; -OH) and compared to the unmodified electrode. The positively
charged surface showed improved catalytic current generation compared to unmodified and
negatively charged or polar surfaces. Structure and composition of the biofilms was examined
using confocal laser scanning and scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical and
microscopy analysis can reveal differences in rates of mass and electron transport within the
biofilms. The study demonstrates that scope using controlled surface properties to enhance
colonization and formation of electroactive biofilms in microbial electrochemical cells for
application in environmental biotechnology with the potential to deliver diverse applications.
POSTER PO-71
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
171
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Influence of cathode to anode surface
ratio on the electrical output generated
by MFCs implemented in constructed
wetlands during the treatment
of domestic wastewater
Clara Corbella and Jaume Puigagut (*)
Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology (GEMMA)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) -BarcelonaTech
C/Jordi Girona 1-3 Edifici D1 Despatx 105
08034 Barcelona / 93.401.08.98
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF CW) for the treatment of domestic
wastewater is a suitable technology for power production via Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)
implementation. Although the influence of the ratio between cathode to anode surface
has been highlighted as a key factor to improve MFC performance in conventional cell
architectures it is a far less addressed topic in the context of sediment microbial fuel cells.
The pilot plant consisted of one SSF CW of 0.4 m2 depth planted with common reed
(Phragmites australis) receiving primary treated domestic wastewater. The wetland was
operated at 14 g COD/m2.day. MFC Electrodes consisted of graphite rods of 0.5 cm diameter
and 1 cm length wrapped in stainless steel mesh marine grade 316L. Anode projected surface
area was that of 7.5 cm2. Cathode projected surface area varied from 7.5 cm2 (equal surface
anode to cathode) to 37.5 cm2 (five times higher cathode surface). Electrodes were connected
by epoxy sealed cooper wires and the circuit was closed using a 1000Ω external resistance.
Cell voltage across the external resistance was measured every 15 minutes using a data logger.
During experiment deployment anode to cathode surface ratios applied were that of 1:1, 1:2;
1:3, 1:4 and 1:5.
Despite high variability, results obtained showed that current and power densities were
maximized at anode to cathode ratio of 1:4. More precisely, under anode to cathode surface
ratio of 1:1 current and power densities were that of 90 ±34 mA/m2 and 7±5 mW/m2,
respectively. When anode to cathode surface ratio was that of 1:4 current and power densities
significantly increased up to 155 ±28mA/m2 and 18.5±5 mW/m2, respectively.
The main conclusion of this work is that MFC performance in SSF CW treating domestic
wastewater could be improved by applying higher than 1:1 anode to cathode surface ratios.
POSTER PO-72
172
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Contribution of macrophytes
to the electrical output generated
by MFCs implemented in constructed
wetlands during the treatment
of domestic wastewater
Clara Corbella and Jaume Puigagut (*)
Group of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology (GEMMA)
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - BarcelonaTech
C/Jordi Girona 1-3 Edifici D1 Despatx 105
08034 Barcelona / 93.401.08.98
*. E-mail: [email protected]
Horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF CW) for the treatment of domestic
wastewater is a suitable technology for power production via Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)
implementation. Macrophytes in SSF CW may contribute to electricity generation via root
exudates. However, the extent of this contribution is currently unknown.
The pilot plant consisted of four SSF CW of 0.4 m2 depth planted with common reed that
received primary treated domestic wastewater. Two wetlands were operated at 14 g COD/
m2.day and two of them at 41 g COD/m2.day. Two MFCs were implemented within each
wetland. MFC Electrodes (having a projected surface area of 7.5 cm2) consisted of graphite
rods of 0.5 cm diameter and 1 cm length wrapped in stainless steel mesh marine grade 316L.
Electrodes were connected using expoxy sealed wires and an external resistance of 1000Ω.
Cell voltage across the external resistance was measured every 15 min using a data logger.
The effect of macrophytes on power production was evaluated for 7 days by covering two of
the wetlands (one operated at high and the other at low organic loading) using a synthetic
fabric which allowed air exchange but prevented 98% of light penetration.
Before macrophytes were covered, cell voltage was of similar extent regardless the
experimental condition considered and about 100 mV. Macrophytes cover had a great impact
on cell voltage for the wetland operated at low organic loading conditions. More precisely,
cell voltage decreased up to ca. 5 mV at the end of the study period (ca. 90% of cell voltage
reduction). Cell voltage was almost unaffected by plants cover in SSF CW operated a high
organic loading.
The main conclusion of this work is that of macrophytes seem to have a great impact on
power production with MFC implemented in SSF CW, especially under low organic loading
conditions.
POSTER PO-73
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
173
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A new concept in METlands: assessment
of vertical flow electrogenic biofilters
Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra (2), Carlos Aragón (3,*), Antonio Berná (2), Amanda Prado (2),
Juan Ramón Pidré (3), Juan José Salas (3) and Abraham Esteve-Nuñez (1,2)
1. IMDEA Water Institute, Calle Punto Net 4, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Edificio Polivalente, Alcalá University, 28805, Alcalá de
Henares, Spain.
3. Centre for New Water Technologies (CENTA), 41820, Carrión de los Céspedes, Spain.
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The combination of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) and constructed wetlands
(CWs) has been satisfactory implemented in previous works leading to a hybrid technology
so-called METland. Practically 100% of those works are based in subsurface horizontal flow
constructed wetlands of which internal redox gradient meets the optimum conditions for
the development of electrochemical processes. On the contrary, no references are found for
vertical flow (VF) METlands. Among other benefits, conventional VF CWs have lower surface
requirements and do not suffer from clogging problems, quite typical in horizontal flow (HF)
ones. However, the prevailing aerobic conditions inside the filtering bed could suppose a
restriction to the application of METs. The main goal of this study is to assess the potential use
of METs in VF biofilters, adapting their configuration and operating conditions to maximize
the synergist effects of both technologies. For that purpose, 4 lab-scale biofilters have been
constructed: two up-flow systems, one MFC (with graphite granules anode and graphite cloth
cathode) and the other acting as control containing gravel and sand, and two down-flow ones,
one with graphite granules (short-circuit) and the control with gravel and sand. All pilots are
fed with raw urban wastewater from Carrión de los Céspedes (Seville, Spain): up-flow systems
receive continuously 8 L/day (HRT = 1 day), flooding all the porous of the media and keeping
anoxic/anaerobic conditions. On contrast, down-flow biofilters were fed by 10 L/day through
16 pulses (HRT=1 day), leading to aerobic conditions. Both the influent and effluent of the
pilot systems have been weekly sampled in order to monitor their performance in terms of
organic matter removal (COD and BOD5), suspended solids (SS) and nutrients (TP and TN). The
results show how the graphite systems, both up-flow and down-flow, achieve larger removal
rates than the gravel beds, reaching up to 95% COD-removal. These successful results reveal
the promising future of VF METland as a solution for small-medium size populations.
POSTER PO-74
174
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Disposable alginate/graphite matrices
with trapped bacteria
for electrochemical bioassays
F. Pujol-Vila (1,*), A.E. Guerrero-Navarro (1), N. Vigués (1), X. Muñoz-Berbel (2) and J. Mas (1)
1. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB),
08193 Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain
2. Centre Nacional de Microelectrònica (IMB-CNM, CSIC), Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain
*. E-mail: [email protected]
The development of simple and cost-effective biosensing platforms for in situ environmental
monitoring represents a great challenge considering the global industrial and urban growth.
In this context, microbial-based bioassays and biosensors can provide with beneficial features
because of microbial robustness, versatility and inexpensive production and manipulation.
In this work, porous alginate/graphite matrices were tested as bacterial carriers for
electrochemical bioassays using Escherichia coli as a bacterial model. Bacterial suspensions
were immobilized with 2% (w/v) alginate and 10% (w/v) graphite with calcium chloride, forming
discoidal structures. After gelification, the matrices were dried at room temperature and stored
at 4ºC for bacterial preservation, until used. The electrical conductivity of alginate matrices
with different concentrations of graphite and bacteria was determined to optimize such
parameters. The suitability and performance of the bacterial alginate/graphite matrices were
evaluated by amperometric quantification of the bacterial ferricyanide reduction. Such results
showed electrochemical behaviour associated with the matrix conductivity and the bacterial
distribution within the matrix.
POSTER PO-75
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
175
INDEX
OF AUTHORS
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
A
Aguirre-Sierra, Arantxa....................66, 96, 174
Aissani, L. .......................................80
Ajo-Franklin, Caroline M..................112
Allard, Bruno . .................................130
Al-Mamun, Abdullah.......................123
Alvarez Gallego, Yolanda ...............117
Alvear, Cristóbal .............................154
Alves, M.M. . ...................................170
Alves, Mónica N. ............................127
Amy, Gary L. ...................................73, 155
Andersen, Stephen J.......................31, 56, 83, 161
Angelidaki, Irini ..............................63, 88
Angenent, Largus T.........................41
Anguita, Javiera . ............................154
Anunobi, MarySandra O. ..............116
Aragón, Carlos . ..............................174
Arends, Jan B.A. .............................61, 86, 104, 125
Aryal, Nabin ..................................119
Aulenta, Federico ..........................58, 64, 21, 139
Aurich, Andreas...............................120
Avignone-Rossa, C. ........................141
B
Bacchetti De Gregoris, Tristano......66
Baeza, Juan Antonio ......................124, 167
Bajracharya, Suman ........................53
Balaguer, M. Dolors . ......................54, 71, 94, 164, 165
Bañeras, L........................................165
Barbosa, S.G....................................170
Barriere, Fréderic ............................39, 86
Basadre, Thais ................................56
Batlle-Vilanova, P.............................54
Baudler, André . ..............................136, 138
Bazan, Guillermo C. .......................125
Beese-Vasbender, P. F. . ................55
Bellagamba, Marco ........................64
Berder, O..........................................39
Bergel, Alain ...................................80, 105
Berna, Antonio.................................46, 66, 96, 174
Bernet, N. .......................................48, 80, 90
Berton, Jan .....................................161
Bijsman, Martin F.M. ......................34
Bischof, Franz .................................160
Bize, A..............................................80
Blanchet, E. . ...................................80
Blank, Lars M. .................................145
Bocchini, S. .....................................95
Bogdan, C. Donose . ......................74
Boltes Espínola, Karina . ................87
Bonanni, P.S.....................................111
Bonmatí, August . ...........................52, 92
Boon, Nico . ....................................61, 86
Borjas, Zulema.................................109, 156, 162
Borràs, Eduard.................................59, 137
Bosch-Jimenez, Pau........................59, 137
Bosire, Erick ....................................65
Bouchez, T. .....................................80
Bridier, A. ........................................80
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
Brüderle, Klaus.................................59, 137
Bryniok, Dieter.................................59
Buisman, Cees J.N. .......................34, 35, 53, 72, 86,
89, 113, 131, 152
Busalmen, JP...................................111
Bushell, M........................................141
C
Cabezas, Ángela ............................150, 153
Cahan, Rivka ...................................146
Callegari, Arianna ...........................71
Cañizares, Pablo .............................140
Capodaglio, Andrea G....................71
Carer, A............................................39
Carlson, Hans K...............................108
Carmona-Martínez, A.A..................48, 80, 90
Carneiro, Carla M.A.A.....................126, 151
Cerrillo, Míriam ...............................52, 92
Chen, J.............................................74
Chen, Leifeng..................................119
Chen, Wei........................................73
Chen, Xiaofen..................................125
Coates, John D. . ...........................108
Colprim, Jesús ................................49, 54, 71, 94, 164,
165
Coma, Marta . .................................56, 161
Commault, Audrey ........................158
Conceição, Ricardo J.H...................151
Corbella, Clara . .............................172, 173
Costa, Nazua L. ..............................108
Cruz Viggi, Carolina . ......................64
Cruz, Davide R.................................107
Curtis, Tom . ....................................69, 78
D
Da Silva, S. ......................................48
Daghio, Matteo ..........................147
Danko, Anthony S............................139
Dantas, Joana M. ........................79
Danzer, Joana .................................149
De Vrieze, Jo ..................................61
De Wever, Heleen ..........................91
Debuy, Sandra ................................105
Deeke, Alexandra ...........................72
del Real Torres, Alejandro J............59, 163
Desimone, P.M.................................111
Desloover, Joachim ........................161
Desmond-Le Quéméner, E. ...........80
Dichtl, Norbert . ..............................62
Dittrich, André ................................45
Dockhorn, Thomas .........................62
Dolch, Kerstin .................................148, 149
Dominguez-Benetton, Xochitl .......50, 53, 117
Domínguez-Garay, Ainara ............87, 157
Donose, Bogdan C..........................70
Dumolin, Charles ...........................125
Dumontet, S.....................................141
179
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
E
ElMekawy, Ahmed . ........................91
Erable, Benjamin ............................80, 105
Erben, Johannes . ...........................169
Escapa, Adrián . ..............................82, 93
Esteve-Núñez, Abraham.................37, 46, 66, 87, 96, 109,
156, 157, 162, 174
Estevez-Canales, Marta ..................109
Etchebehere, Claudia . ..................153
F
Falco, Victoria .................................150
Faraghi Parapari, Neda ..................128
Feng, Huajun...................................132
Fernandes, Ana P. . .........................79
Fernandes, Milton J.S......................126
Fernández, Francisco J. . ................140
Flexer, V............................................74
Fonseca, Bruno M. ........................107
Franzetti, Andrea ............................147
Freguia, Stefano ............................70, 74
Fueg, Michael .................................109
Fuentes, Laura ................................153
G
Garrelfs, J. .....................................55
Geirnaert, Annelies .......................104
Gendel, Youri...................................97
Gescher, Johannes .........................45, 97, 148, 149
Giard, L. ..........................................80
Gildemyn, Sylvia .............................31, 61, 83, 161
Gimkiewicz, Carla .........................120
Gminski, Richard . ...........................60
Golitsch, Frederik ...........................45, 97
Gómez, Xiomar A. ..........................82
González-Olmos, R..........................54
Gooding, J. Justin ..........................70
Greiner, Andreas . ...........................138
Grote, J.– P. . ...................................55
Guerrero-Navarro, A.E....................175
Guisasola, Albert ............................124, 167
Guo, Kun . ..................................70
Gutiérrez, D. ...................................137
H
Haavisto, Johanna M. . ................133
Hamelers, Bert.................................72
Harms, Hauke .................................103, 120, 143
Harnisch, Falk .................................41, 49, 62, 67, 77,
103, 120, 143
Hartmann, Anton ...........................86
Head, Ian ........................................69, 78
Hedbavna, Petra . .........................135
Helder, Marjolein ............................152
Hennebel, Tom ...............................50, 61, 161
Henrich, Alexander W. ...................114, 115
Herminghaus, Stephan ..................143
Heyer, Malte .................................97
180
Hibino, Tadashi ..............................142, 144
Hidalgo, D........................................95, 168
Hodgson, D.....................................141
Höglund, Daniel .............................119
Holtmann, D. ...............................101, 102, 122, 159
Huang, Wei E. . ...............................135
I
Icaran, Pilar.......................................46
J
Jäntti, Jussi.......................................112
Jeon, Sungil ....................................73
Jeremiasse, A. W.............................113
Jimenez-Sandoval, Rodrigo J. ......73
Jourdin, L. .......................................74
K
Kano, Isse.........................................142
Karthikeyan, V. ...............................95, 168
Katuri, Krishna P. .............................73
Kaufmann, K. ..................................115
Keith Brown, Robert ...................62
Keller, J.............................................74
Kerzenmacher, Sven .......................45, 60, 149, 166, 169
Keshavarz, Tajalli .............................129
Khaled, Firas ..................................130
Kinjo, Nobutaka . ............................144
Kipf, Elena . .....................................45, 166
Kirchner, Thomas M.
. ...............114, 115
Kleine, D. ........................................159
Koch, Christin ..............................49, 67
König, Armin ..................................60
Korth, Benjamin ...........................77, 103
Koukkari, Pertti.................................112
Kranen, E. .......................................122
Krieg, T.............................................101, 102, 159
Kuntke, P. .......................................34, 113, 170
Kuzume, Akiyoshi ...........................109
Ky, Dongwon...................................38
Kyazze, Godfrey..............................129
L
Lacroix, R..........................................48
Lai, Agnese......................................58
Lai, Zhiping......................................73
Lakaniemi, Aino-Maija ....................51, 134
Lampis, Silvia ..................................121
Langner, Markus ............................138
Larrosa-Guerrero, Amor .................156, 162
Lawlor, Sofía . ..................................150
Lay, Chy-How...................................133
Lear, Gavin.......................................158
Lebedev, Nikolai..............................32
Leech, Dónal....................................171
Leitão, Patrícia ................................139
Leiva, Eduardo . ..............................85, 154
Letón, Pedro....................................46
Leyva Guerrero, Carlos . .................163
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
Liberale, Alessandro .......................71
Lienemann, Michael........................112
Logan, Bruce ..................................40
Louro, Ricardo O.............................33, 106, 107, 108,
127
Lovley, Derek...................................109
Lusk, Bradley....................................38
M
Maas, R. ..........................................122
Macias Aragonés, Marta.................59, 163
Madigou, C. . ..................................80
Majone, Mauro ..............................57, 58, 121, 139
Maneiro Franco, Elena....................46, 162
Mangold, K-M ................................101, 102
Mapelli, Valeria ...............................116
Marone, A. ....................................90
Mas, J...............................................175
Maskow, Thomas ............................103
Mateo, Sara ..................................140
Mattia, Alessandro...........................57
Matturro, Bruna ..............................64
Mayrhofer, K. J. J. ...........................55
Mazeas, L. ......................................80
Mazza, Marco G. . ...........................143
Menes, Javier .................................150
Messinger, Thorsten .......................166
Meulepas, Roel J.W. . .....................35
Michel, Elena ..................................160
Milner, Edward . ..............................68, 78
Mizumoto, Kenta ............................144
Modin, Oskar...................................50
Molenaar, Sam D. ...........................131
Molitor, Bastian ...............................114, 115
Molognoni, Daniele ..................71, 165
Montpart, Nuria ..............................167
Morán, Antonio .............................82, 93
Moreno, Rubén ..............................82, 93
Mühlenberg, J.................................49
Müller, Susann ................................49, 67
Muñoz-Berbel, X..............................175
Musat, Niculina ...............................143
N
Nagatsu, Yoshiyuki .........................142, 144
Nastro, R.A.......................................141
Nerenberg, Robert .........................154
Nies, Salome ..................................145
Nissilä, Marika E. ...........................51, 133, 134
Nohara, K. . .....................................115
Nouws, Henri ..................................139
O
Oliveras, Judit . ..............................92
Oluwaseun, Adelaja ......................129
Ondel, Olivier .................................130
Ortíz, Juan Manuel .........................156, 162
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
P
Pacheco, Isabel . .............................107
Paquete, Catarina M. .....................106, 107, 108, 127
Parameswaran, Prathap...................38
Pasquale, V.......................................141
Patil, Sunil A. ...................................70, 125, 147
Paut, Deepak...................................53, 91, 117
Peixoto, L. .......................................170
Penttilä, Merja..................................112
Pereira, M.A. ...................................170
Pereira, Tiago .................................107
Picioreanu, Cristian .........................77
Picot, Matthieu ..............................39, 86
Pidré, Juan Ramón .......................174
Pitkänen, Juha-Pekka.......................112
Popat, Sudeep C.............................38, 110
Popescu, Dorin-Mirel.......................68
Pous, Narcis ....................................49, 67
Prado, Amanda ..............................174
Prévoteau, Antonin . .......................70, 104
Prokhorova, Anna ..........................148, 149
Puhakka, Jaakko A. . .......................51, 133, 134
Puig, Sebastià .................................49, 54, 67, 71, 94,
164, 165
Puigagut, Jaume ............................172, 173
Pujol-Vila, F.......................................175
R
Rabaey, Korneel ............................31, 50, 56, 61, 70, 83,
104, 125, 147, 161
Rago, Laura . ................................167
Regan, John . .................................85, 154
Reija, Alejandro................................66, 96
Renvoise, L. . ...................................80
Richnow, Hans-Herman...................143
Richter, Katrin . ................................45
Riedl, Sebastian ............................136
Rimboud, Mickaël ..........................105
Robuschi, L.......................................111
Rocha, Luís A...................................126
Rodenas Motos, Pau ......................35, 89
Rodrigo, José ................................46, 87, 157
Rodrigo, Manuel A. ........................140
Rodrigues, Tatiana C.......................84
Rodriguez Arredondo, M. ...........34, 113
Rojas, Claudia .................................85, 154
Rosa, Luis F. M. ...............................77, 103
Rosenbaum, Miriam A. . .................65, 84, 97, 114,
115, 145
Rossetti, Simona .............................64, 139
Rothballer, Michael ....................86
Rouillac, L. . .....................................80
Rozenfeld, Shmuel .......................146
Ruggeri, B. ......................................95, 168
Ruiz, Yolanda ................................124
181
2nd European Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (EU-ISMET 2014)
S
Saakes, M. . .....................................34, 89
Saikaly, Pascal E. .............................73, 155
Salas, Juan José..............................66, 96, 174
Salcedo-Dávila, I..............................164
Salgueiro, Carlos A. ........................79
San Martín, Mª Isabel .....................93
Sané, Sabine ...................................60, 166
Sapireddy, Veer Raghavulu.............171
Saraiva, Ivo H. .................................106
Schechter, Alex................................146
Schkolnik, Gal ...............................143
Schmid, Michael ............................86
Schmidt, Igor ..................................138
Schmitz, Simone .........................115, 145
Schrader, J. .....................................101, 102, 122, 159
Schröder, Uwe ................................41, 62, 136, 138
Schroeter, Matthias . .......................143
Schroll, Reiner..................................157
Schrott, G.D.....................................111
Scott, Keith......................................68, 69, 78
Sentieys, O.......................................39
Shechter, R. .....................................137
Shehab, Noura A. .........................155
Sieper, Tina .....................................86
Silva, Marta A. . ...............................79
Sire, Y................................................90
Sleutels, Tom H.J.A. .....................35, 72, 89, 113, 131
Soares, Cláudio M. .........................107
Soeriyadi, Alexander H....................70
Sotres, Ana .....................................52
Spurr, Martin ...................................69
Srikanth, Sandipam ......................91, 117
Stevens, Christian ...........................161
Steyer, J.P.........................................90
Stöckl, Markus..................................101, 102, 159
Stratmann, M...................................55
Strik, David P.B.T.B...........................53, 86, 152
Ströhle, F. W. ..................................122
Strycharz-Glaven, Sarah M..............32
Sturm, Gunnar ................................45
Sulonen, Mira L.K. ..........................51
Surribas, A. .....................................137
Sydow. A..........................................101, 102, 159
T
Tejedor, Sara....................................46
Tender, Leonard . ............................32
Ter Heijne, Annemiek......................34, 35, 50, 53, 72,
89, 113, 131, 170
TerAvest, Michaela A.......................112
Thiele, Simon ..................................169
Thomas, Y.R.J...................................39
Thornton, Steven F. ........................135
Tomba, J.P........................................111
Tommasi, T. .....................................95, 168
Torralba, E. ......................................137
Torres, César I..................................38, 110
Touch, Narong ................................142
182
Trably, E. . ........................................48, 80, 90
Tremblay, Pier-Luc . ........................119
Tsukamoto, Junko ..........................161
Tyson, Gene W. ..............................61
V
Vaiopoulou, Eleni ...........................147
Vallini, Giovanni ..............................121
Van de Wiele, Tom ........................104
van der Weijden, R.D. ....................89
Vanbroekhoven, Karolien ..............53, 91, 117
Vanwonterghem, Inka ....................61
Vargas, Ignacio ...............................85, 154
Verbeeck, Kristof ............................31, 83
Verbeken, Kim ...............................61
Verdini, Roberta ..............................58
Verstraete, Willy . ...........................61
Vigués, N.........................................175
Vilà, Albert ......................................94, 165
Vilajeliu-Pons, A. ............................164, 165
Villano, Marianna ............................57, 121
Viñas, Marc .....................................52, 92
Virdis, Bernardino............................47
Vogl, Andreas .................................160
W
Wahlandt, Helge ............................62
Wallace, G. G...................................74
Wandlowsky, Thomas .....................109
Weld, Richard J ..............................158
Wenzel, Jorge . ..............................153
Werner, Craig M..............................73
Wessling, Matthias .........................97
Wetser, Koen ................................152
Wichern, Marc ...............................160
Widdel, F. . .....................................55
Wierckx, Nick ..................................145
Wirth, Sebastian .............................62
X
Xafenias, Nikolaos ..........................146
Y
Yoho, Rachel A. ............................110
Yong Ng, How.................................123
Yu, Eileen .......................................68, 69, 78
Z
Zamorano, Vasty .............................85
Zengler, Karsten . ............................128
Zeppilli, Marco . ..............................57, 121
Zhang, Tian .....................................36, 118, 119
Zhang, Xueqin ...............................132
Zhang, Yifeng .................................63, 88
Zschernitz, T. ...................................159
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), SPAIN 3-5 September 2014
Notes
EU-ISMET 2014 · 2nd European meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology
nd
2 European meeting of the International Society
for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology
University of Alcalá, 3 - 5 September 2014
www.eu-ismet2014.org
#eu_ismet2014
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