Microbial electrochemical remediation of organic contaminants: Possibilities and perspective

Microbial electrochemical technologies or bioelectrochemical systems (BES) are an emerging technology for remediating persistent organic contaminants, which can pose a significant threat to public and ecosystem health. A unique feature of these systems is that solid electrodes can be used directly as either an electron acceptor or donor to facilitate the microbial oxidation or reduction of organic compounds. The degradation kinetics of the organic compounds can be directly monitored as electrical signals (e.g., current, voltage, or electrode potentials) and can be controlled through the manipulation of these electrical variables. Because the requirement of dosing reagents to the contaminated environment can potentially be omitted, BES are attractive for advancing existing cleanup methods. This chapter aims to highlight the options that have been considered for organics remediation using BES as a platform technology. The fundamental of this technology and the potential and possible new research foci are also discussed.