Abstract
Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have rapidly developed into a promising technology to treat sulfate-rich wastewater that lacks electron donors. Hence, a better understanding of the effect on the microbial community structure caused by different sources in bioelectrochemical systems is required. This study sought to investigate the effect of different carbon sources (NaHCO3, ethanol, and acetate were employed as sole carbon source respectively) on the performance of sulfate-reducing biocathodes. The sulfate reduction efficiency enhanced by the bioelectrochemical systems was 8.09 − 11.57% higher than that of open-circuit reference experiments. Furthermore, the optimum carbon source was ethanol with a maximum sulfate reduction rate of 170 mg L−1 d−1 in the bioelectrochemical systems. The different carbon sources induced significant differences in sulfate reduction efficiency as demonstrated by the application of a micro-electrical field. Microbial community structure and network analysis revealed that all three kinds of carbon source systems enriched large proportions of sulfate-reducing bacteria and electroactive bacteria but were significantly distinct in composition. The dominant sulfate-reducing bacteria that use NaHCO3 and acetate as carbon sources were Desulfobacter and Desulfobulbus, whereas those that use ethanol as carbon source were Desulfomicrobium and Desulfovibrio. Our results suggest that ethanol is a more suitable carbon source for sulfate reduction in bioelectrochemical systems.
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This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China [19KJB610027] as well as the Graduate Research Innovation Program of Yancheng Institute of Technology (KYCX21_XZ2004).
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Tian-ming Chen conceived and designed the studies. Jing-jing Pan drafted the manuscript. Xiang-yang Cao and Jun Huang performed the studies. Lu-yu Tan and Yu-kang Gu contributed in the data collection. Qing-qing Fan contributed in the data analysis. Tian-ming Chen contributed in the provision of ideas of this manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Pan, Jj., Tan, Ly., Fan, Qq. et al. Effect of different carbon sources on sulfate reduction and microbial community structure in bioelectrochemical systems. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 18312–18324 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23487-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23487-7