TY - JOUR
T1 - Startup performance of microbial electrolysis cell assisted anaerobic digester (MEC-AD) with pre-acclimated activated carbon
AU - Xu, Suyun
AU - Zhang, Yuchen
AU - Luo, Liwen
AU - Liu, Hongbo
N1 - Funding information:
The authors wish to thank the financial supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China (51308337) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Reinvent the Toilet Challenge-China Regional Program, OPP1051913) RTTC-China 2014 Project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors.
PY - 2019/2
Y1 - 2019/2
N2 - The feasibility of using pre-acclimated activated carbon to start up microbial electrolysis cell assisted anaerobic digester (MEC-AD) has been testified in this study. Two identical lab-scale digesters were separately packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) and powered activated carbon (PAC), which were initially acclimated as anaerobic digester and then transferred to MEC-AD. When a voltage of 0.5 V was applied, increased methane generation and substrate removal rates were observed. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens predominated in both digesters before and after transition, indicating that the pre-cultured microbial community on carbon materials could provide necessary microbiome favorable for starting up MECs. Although a low abundance of Geobacter was detected in inoculum, a rapid propagation could be realized when reactors were subjected to the electro-stimulation. The abundance of Methanosarcina closely attached to PAC was four times than that of GAC, which might be partially contributed to the improved resilience of anaerobic digester subjected to electro-stimulation.
AB - The feasibility of using pre-acclimated activated carbon to start up microbial electrolysis cell assisted anaerobic digester (MEC-AD) has been testified in this study. Two identical lab-scale digesters were separately packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) and powered activated carbon (PAC), which were initially acclimated as anaerobic digester and then transferred to MEC-AD. When a voltage of 0.5 V was applied, increased methane generation and substrate removal rates were observed. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens predominated in both digesters before and after transition, indicating that the pre-cultured microbial community on carbon materials could provide necessary microbiome favorable for starting up MECs. Although a low abundance of Geobacter was detected in inoculum, a rapid propagation could be realized when reactors were subjected to the electro-stimulation. The abundance of Methanosarcina closely attached to PAC was four times than that of GAC, which might be partially contributed to the improved resilience of anaerobic digester subjected to electro-stimulation.
KW - Activated carbon
KW - Direct interspecies electron transfer
KW - Geobacter
KW - Hydrogenotrophic methanogens
KW - Volatile fatty acids
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067249899&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biteb.2018.12.007
DO - 10.1016/j.biteb.2018.12.007
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85067249899
SN - 2589-014X
VL - 5
SP - 91
EP - 98
JO - Bioresource Technology Reports
JF - Bioresource Technology Reports
ER -