Impact of Reactor Configuration on Autotrophic Denitrification Performance in a Microbial Fuel Cell
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 28, Issue 3
Abstract
The removal of nitrogen from wastewater is one of the challenges faced by environmental engineers globally. Autotrophic denitrification is a promising method for treating nitrate -contaminated wastewater because of its relatively low requirement for carbon and lesser sludge yield. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the autotrophic denitrification efficiency of two different dual-chamber configurations of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in order to provide a foundation for building scalable, efficient, and sustainable denitrification systems. Analysis revealed that the maximum current density and power density were 4,327 mA/m3 and 1,441 mW/m3, respectively, in a cube-shaped dual-chamber MFC (C-MFC), whereas these values were 1,452 mA/m3 and 370 mW/m3, respectively, in an H-shaped dual-chamber configuration (H-MFC). In addition, the C-MFC and H-MFC achieved relatively high reduction rates of up to 28 and 15.6 g/m3/day, respectively. The cathodic coulombic efficiency was observed to be 57% in the C-MFC and 30% in the H-MFC. The average chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency was about 98% for both MFC configurations. High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed significant changes in the microbial community structure under different reactor configurations. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria (34.67%) and Firmicutes (18.59%) at the phylum level were higher in the C-MFC than the H-MFC, signifying that higher current generation can enhance the proliferation and microbial activity of autotrophic denitrifiers.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
A.B. would like to thank the Indian Ministry of Education (MoE) for financial support provided through the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) program.
Author contributions: A.B.: Conceptualization, Writing original draft. P.C.: Conceptualization, Writing, Review and Editing, Supervision.
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Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 28 • Issue 3 • July 2024
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Sep 15, 2023
Accepted: Feb 12, 2024
Published online: Apr 30, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2024
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