Abstract
Addressing the need to recover energy from the treatment of domestic wastewater, a 120-L microbial electrolysis cell was operated on site in Northern England, using raw domestic wastewater to produce virtually pure hydrogen gas (100 ± 6.4 %) for a period of over 3 months. The volumetric loading rate was 0.14 kg of chemical oxygen demand (COD) per cubic metre per day, just below the typical loading rates for activated sludge of 0.2–2 kg COD m−3 day−1, at an energetic cost of 2.3 kJ/g COD, which is below the values for activated sludge 2.5–7.2 kJ/g COD. The reactor produced an equivalent of 0.015 L H2 L−1 day−1, and recovered around 70 % of the electrical energy input with a coulombic efficiency of 55 %. Although the reactor did not reach the breakeven point of 100 % electrical energy recovery and COD removal was limited, improved hydrogen capture and reactor design could increase the performance levels substantially. Importantly, for the first time, a ‘proof of concept’ has been made, showing that this technology is capable of energy capture as hydrogen gas from low strength domestic wastewaters at ambient temperatures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aboutalebi H, Sathasivan A, Krishna KCB, Kohpaei AJ (2011) Expediting COD removal in microbial electrolysis cells by increasing biomass concentration. Bioresour Technol 102:3981–3984
Aelterman P, Freguia S, Keller J, Verstraete W, Rabaey K (2008) The anode potential regulates bacterial activity in microbial fuel cells. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 78:409–418
Bretschger O, Gorby YA, Nealson KH (2010) A survey of direct electron transfer from microbes to electronically active surfaces. In: Rabaey K, Angenent L, Schröder U, Keller J (eds) Bioelectrochemical systems: From extracellular electron transfer to biotechnological application. IWA Publishing, London, p 488
Call D, Logan BE (2008) Hydrogen production in a single chamber microbial electrolysis cell lacking a membrane. Environ Sci Technol 42:3401–3406
Cheng S, Logan BE (2008) Evaluation of catalysts and membranes for high yield biohydrogen production via electrohydrogenesis in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). Water Sci Technol 58:853–857
Cheng SA, Logan BE (2011) High hydrogen production rate of microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) with reduced electrode spacing. Bioresour Technol 102:3571–3574
Cheng S, Liu H, Logan BE (2006) Increased performance of single-chamber microbial fuel cells using an improved cathode structure. Electrochem Commun 8:489–494
Clauwaert P, Aelterman P, Pham TH, De Schamphelaire L, Carballa M, Rabaey K, Verstraete W (2008) Minimizing losses in bio-electrochemical systems: the road to applications. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 79:901–913
Cusick RD, Bryan B, Parker DS, Merrill MD, Mehanna M, Kiely PD, Liu GL, Logan BE (2011) Performance of a pilot-scale continuous flow microbial electrolysis cell fed winery wastewater. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89:2053–2063
EEC (1991) Council directive of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment (91/271/EEC). Page 40. Official Journal of the European Communities.
Fan YZ, Xu ST, Schaller R, Jiao J, Chaplen F, Liu H (2011) Nanoparticle decorated anodes for enhanced current generation in microbial electrochemical cells. Biosens Bioelectron 26:1908–1912
Foley JM, Rozendal RA, Hertle CK, Lant PA, Rabaey K (2010) Life cycle assessment of high-rate anaerobic treatment, microbial fuel cells, and microbial electrolysis cells. Environ Sci Technol 44:3629–3637
Grady CPL, Daigger GT, Lim HG (1999) Biological wastewater treatment, 2nd edn. Marcel Dekker, New York
Heidrich ES, Curtis TP, Dolfing J (2011) Determination of the internal chemical energy of wastewater. Environ Sci Technol 45:827–832
Holmes DE, Bond DR, O'Neil RA, Reimers CE, Tender LR, Lovley DR (2004) Microbial communities associated with electrodes harvesting electricity from a variety of aquatic sediments. Microb Ecol 48:178–190
Kiely PD, Rader G, Regan JM, Logan BE (2011a) Long-term cathode performance and the microbial communities that develop in microbial fuel cells fed different fermentation endproducts. Bioresour Technol 102:361–366
Kiely PD, Regan JM, Logan BE (2011b) The electric picnic: synergistic requirements for exoelectrogenic microbial communities. Curr Opin Biotechnol 22:378–385
Kim IS, Hwang MH, Jang NJ, Hyun SH, Lee ST (2004) Effect of low pH on the activity of hydrogen utilizing methanogen in bio-hydrogen process. Int J Hydrog Energy 29:1133–1140
Liu H, Grot S, Logan BE (2005) Electrochemically assisted microbial production of hydrogen from acetate. Environ Sci Technol 39:4317–4320
Logan B (2008) Microbial fuel cells. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey
Logan BE (2009) Exoelectrogenic bacteria that power microbial fuel cells. Nat Rev Microbiol 7:375–381
Lovley DR (2008) The microbe electric: conversion of organic matter to electricity. Curr Opin Biotechnol 19:564–571
Lu L, Ren NQ, Zhao X, Wang HA, Wu D, Xing DF (2011) Hydrogen production, methanogen inhibition and microbial community structures in psychrophilic single-chamber microbial electrolysis cells. Energ Environ Sci 4:1329–1336
Oh ST, Kim JR, Premier GC, Lee TH, Kim C, Sloan WT (2010) Sustainable wastewater treatment: how might microbial fuel cells contribute. Biotechnol Adv 28:871–881
Pant D, Singh A, Van Bogaert G, Gallego YA, Diels L, Vanbroekhoven K (2011) An introduction to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for sustainable energy and product generation: relevance and key aspects. Renew Sust Energ Rev 15:1305–1313
Pant D, Singh A, Van Bogaert G, Olsen SI, Nigam PS, Diels L, Vanbroekhoven K (2012) Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for sustainable energy production and product recovery from organic wastes and industrial wastewaters. Rsc Adv 2:1248–1263
Rabaey K, Boon N, Siciliano SD, Verhaege M, Verstraete W (2004) Biofuel cells select for microbial consortia that self-mediate electron transfer. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:5373–5382
Rader GK, Logan BE (2010) Multi-electrode continuous flow microbial electrolysis cell for biogas production from acetate. Int J Hydrog Energ 35:8848–8854
Rozendal RA, Hamelers HVM, Euverink GJW, Metz SJ, Buisman CJN (2006) Principle and perspectives of hydrogen production through biocatalyzed electrolysis. Int J Hydrog Energ 31:1632–1640
Rozendal RA, Hamelers HVM, Rabaey K, Keller J, Buisman CJN (2008a) Towards practical implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment. Trends Biotechnol 26:450–459
Rozendal RA, Jeremiasse AW, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2008b) Hydrogen production with a microbial biocathode. Environ Sci Technol 42:629–634
Rozendal RA, Leone E, Keller J, Rabaey K (2009) Efficient hydrogen peroxide generation from organic matter in a bioelectrochemical system. Electrochem Commun 11:1752–1755
Sleutels T, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2011) Effect of mass and charge transport speed and direction in porous anodes on microbial electrolysis cell performance. Bioresour Technol 102:399–403
Villano M, De Bonis L, Rossetti S, Aulenta F, Majone M (2011) Bioelectrochemical hydrogen production with hydrogenophilic dechlorinating bacteria as electrocatalytic agents. Bioresour Technol 102:3193–3199
Wang A, Liu W, Ren N, Zhou J, Cheng S (2010) Key factors affecting microbial anode potential in a microbial electrolysis cell for H(2) production. Int J Hydrog Energ 35:13481–13487
Wang AJ, Sun D, Cao GL, Wang HY, Ren NQ, Wu WM, Logan BE (2011) Integrated hydrogen production process from cellulose by combining dark fermentation, microbial fuel cells, and a microbial electrolysis cell. Bioresour Technol 102:4137–4143
Zhang YM, Merrill MD, Logan BE (2010) The use and optimization of stainless steel mesh cathodes in microbial electrolysis cells. Int J Hydrog Energ 35:12020–12028
Zhang F, Pant D, Logan BE (2011) Long-term performance of activated carbon air cathodes with different diffusion layer porosities in microbial fuel cells. Biosens Bioelectron 30:49–55
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the staff at Northumbrian Water Limited, Andrew Moore, Steve Robson and Laura Stephenson, as without their support this project would not have been possible. The authors also thank Christine Jeans for preparing the reactor diagrams. This work was financially supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Northumbrian Water Limited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heidrich, E.S., Dolfing, J., Scott, K. et al. Production of hydrogen from domestic wastewater in a pilot-scale microbial electrolysis cell. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 6979–6989 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4456-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4456-7