Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of long-term performance of plant microbial fuel cells using agricultural plants under the controlled environment

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Plant microbial fuel cell (PMFC) is a novel bioelectrochemical system that integrates the photosynthetic reaction from the living plants to generate electricity via microorganisms at the rhizosphere of the plant roots. To elucidate factors which are critical for PMFCs operation, this study investigated the effects of different plants and soil conditioners on PMFCs performance. The experiment was done in a controlled lighting incubator at 27 °C and 75% of humidity for 200 days. Two waterlogged agricultural plants, paddy (Oryza sativa) and water bamboo (Zizania latifolia), were applied in PMFC systems; besides, the compost made from food waste and biochar made from waste wood biomass were selected as soil conditioners. Results showed that varied electricity generation during the operation was observed for different PMFC systems, but the Paddy-PMFC with compost (PC-PMFC) demonstrated relatively more stable electricity generation for 200 days (15.57 ± 8.15 mW/m2) and significantly higher voltage production, reaching the highest output voltage of 894.39 ± 53.44 mV (34.78 mW/m2) among all PMFCs. It was observed that the output voltage of PMFCs was significantly higher than soil-MFC, and the output voltage of P-PMFC was significantly higher than water bamboo-PMFC, implying rhizodeposition of different plant roots could be important for the performance of electricity production in PMFCs. However, Paddy-PMFC with biochar (PB-PMFC) demonstrated significantly lower voltage production than those without biochar, likely due to the inhibitory effect of biochar made by waste wood biomass. The taxonomic identification of the microbial community at the anode showed that Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum, and Gammaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria were the most dominant classes of the microbial communities. Further analysis showed that the PB-PMFC had the most distinct anode microbial community structure, with the predominant family of Gallionellaceae, instead of Geobacteraceae as in other PMFCs. Geobacter was the major genus of the microbial population in all samples and showed the highest relative abundance in PC-PMFC, suggesting that it was the main exoelectrogen involved in electricity generation in our PMFC systems. This study has demonstrated that the power output of PMFC systems can be influenced by different agricultural plants and soil conditioners made from waste biomass, which warrants the need to better understand the underlying interaction among the anode microbial community, the rhizodeposition of different plant roots, and electrochemical mechanisms for the future scale-up application of PMFCs.

Graphic abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

EAB:

Electroactive bacteria

MFC:

Microbial fuel cell

Soil-MFC:

Soil microbial fuel cell

P-PMFC:

Paddy plant microbial fuel cell

W-PMFC:

Water bamboo plant microbial fuel cell

PC-PMFC:

Paddy plant microbial fuel cell with compost

PB-PMFC:

Paddy plant microbial fuel cell with biochar

OCV:

Open circuit voltage

References

  • Aulakh SM, Wassman R, Bueno C, Rennenberg H (2001) Characterization of root exudates at the different growth stages of ten rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. Plant Biol 3:139–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bond DR, Lovely DR (2003) Electricity production by Geobacter sulferreducens attached to electrodes. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:1548–1555

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caporaso JG, Kuczynski J, Stombaugh J, Bittinger K, Bushman FD, Costello EK, Fierer N, Peña AG, Goodrich JK, Gordon JI, Huttley GA, Kelley ST, Knights D, Koenig JE, Ley RE, Lozupone CA, McDonald D, Muegge BD, Pirrung M, Reeder J, Sevinsky JR, Turnbaugh PJ, Walters WA, Widmann J, Yatsunenko T, Aneveld JZ, Knight R (2010) QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data. Nat Methods 7(5):335–336

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chin KJ, Hahn D, Hengstmann U, Liesack W, Janssen PH (1999) Characterization and identification of numerically abundant culturable bacteria from the anoxic bulk soil of rice paddy microcosms. Appl Environ Microbiol 65:5042–5049

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corwin DL, Lesch SM (2005) Apparent soil electrical conductivity measurement in agriculture. Comput Electron Agric 46:11–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Schamphelaire L, Cabezas A, Marzorati M, Friedrich MW, Boon N, Verstraete W (2010) Microbial community analysis of anodes from sediment microbial fuel cells powered by rhizodeposits of living rice plants. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:2002–2008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory PJ (2008) Plant roots: growth, activity and interactions with the soil, 1st, Kindle edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan CY, Tseng YH, Tsang DCW, Hu A, Yu CP (2019a) Wetland plant microbial fuel cells for remediation of hexavalent chromium contaminated soils and electricity production. J Hazard Mater 365:137–145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guan CY, Hu A, Yu CP (2019b) Stratified chemical and microbial characteristics between anode and cathode after long-term operation of plant microbial fuel cells for remediation of metal contaminated soils. Sci Total Environ 670:585–594

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gustavsson J, Cederberg C, Sonesson U, van Otterdijk R, Meybeck A (2011) A global food losses and food waste: extent, causes and prevention. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallbeck L, Pedersen K (2014) The family Gallionellaceae. In: Rosenberg E, DeLong EF, Lory S, Stackebrandt E, Thompson F (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, pp 853–854

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Helder M, Strik DPBTB, Timmers RA, Raes SMT, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2013) Resilience of roof-top plant–microbial fuel cells during Dutch winter. Biomass Bioenergy 51:1–7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huggins T, Wang H, Kearns J, Jenkins P, Ren ZJ (2014) Biochar as a sustainable electrode material for electricity production in microbial fuel cells. Bioresour Technol 157:114–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang C, Copeland A, Lucas S, Lapidus A, Barry K, Glavina del Rio T, Dalin E, Tice H, Pitluck S, Sims D, Brettin T, Bruce DC, Detter JC, Han CS, Schmutz J, Larimer FW, Land ML, Hauser LJ, Kyrpides N, Lykidis A, Richardson P, Belieav A, Sanford RA, Löeffler FE, Fields MW (2015) Complete genome sequence of Anaeromyxobacter sp. Fw109-5, an anaerobic, metal-reducing bacterium isolated from a contaminated subsurface environment. Genome Announc 22:e1149–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaku N, Yonezawa N, Kodama Y, Watanabe K (2008) Plant/microbe cooperation for electricity generation in a rice paddy field. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 79:43–49

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khan S, Chao C, Waqas M, Arp HP, Zhu YG (2013) Sewage sludge biochar influence upon rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield, metal bioaccumulation and greenhouse gas emissions from acidic paddy soil. Environ Sci Technol 47(15):8624–8632

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuever J, Rainey FA, Widdel F (2005) Family II Desulfobulbaceae. In: Garrity GM, Brenner DJ, Krieg NR, Staley JT (eds) Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology, vol 2. Springer, New York, p 988

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre O, Uzabiaga A, Chang IS, Kim BH, Ng HY (2011) Microbial fuel cells for energy self-sufficient domestic wastewater treatment—a review and discussion from energetic consideration. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89:259–270

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liao S, Pan B, Li H, Zhang D, Xing B (2014) Detecting free radicals in biochar and determining their ability to inhibit the germination and growth of corn, wheat and rice Seedlings. Environ Sci Technol 48(15):8581–8587

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liesack W, Schnell S, Revsbech NP (2006) Microbiology of flooded rice paddies. FEMS Microbiol Rev 24:625–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Logan BE, Hamelers B, Rozendal RA, Schröder U, Keller J, Stefano F, Peter A, Willy V, Korneel R (2006) Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ Sci Technol 40:5181–5192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lozupone C, Lladser ME, Knights D, Stombaugh J, Knight R (2011) UniFrac: an effective distance metric for microbial community comparison. ISME J 5:169–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu L, Xing D, Ren JZ (2015) Microbial community structure accompanied with electricity production in a constructed wetland plant microbial fuel cell. Bioresour Technol 195:115–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Md Khudzari J, Kurian J, Gariépy Y, Tartakovsky B, Raghavan GSV (2018) Effect on salinity, growing media, and photoperiod on bioelectricity production in plant microbial fuel cells with weeping alkaligrass. Biomass Bioenergy 109:1–9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Md Khundzari J, Gariépy Y, Kurian J, Tartakovsky B, Raghavan GSV (2019) Effects of biochar anodes in rice plant microbial fuel cells on the production of bioelectricity, biomass, and methane. Biochem Eng J 141:190–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moqsud MA, Omine K, Yasufuku N, Hyodo M, Nakata Y (2013) Microbial fuel cell (MFC) for bioelectricity generation from organic wastes. Waste Manag 33:2465–2469

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moqsud MA, Yoshitake J, Bushra QS, Hyodo M, Omine K, Strik DPBTB (2015) Compost in plant microbial fuel cell for bioelectricity generation. Waste Manage 36:63–69

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oon YL, Ong SA, Ho LN, Wong YS, Oon YS, Lehl HK, Thung WE (2015) Hybrid system upflow constructed wetland integrated with microbial fuel cell for simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity generation. Bioresour Technol 186:270–275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palansooriya KN, Ok YS, Awad JYM, Lee SS, Sung JK, Koutsospyros A, Moon DH (2019) Ipacts of biochar application on upland agriculture: a review. J Environ Manag 234:52–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quast C, Pruess E, Yilmaz P, Gerkan J, Schweer T, Yarza P, Peplies J, Glöckner FO (2013) The SILVA ribosomal RNA gene database project: improved data processing and web-based tools. Nucleic Acids Res 41:590–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades JD (1996) Salinity: electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Sumner ME (eds) Methods for soil analysis: part 3—chemical methods, book series No. 5. SSSA and ASA, Madison, pp 417–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol 4:406–425

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Santos DC, Sivasankar V, Omine K, Valladarez J, Mylsamy P (2018) Plant microbial fuel cell technology: developments and limitations. In: Sivasankar V, Mylsamy P, Omine K (eds) Microbial fuel cell technology for bioelectricity (Chapter 3). Springer Publishing, New York, pp 49–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Schloss PD, Westcott SL, Ryabin T, Hall JR, Hartmann M, Hollister EB, Lesniewski RA, Brian BO, Donovan HP, Courtney JR, Jason WS, Blaz S, Gerhard GT, David JVH, Carolyn FW (2009) Introducing mothur: open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 75:7537–7541

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HV, Snel JFH, Buisman CJ (2008) Green electricity production with living plants and bacteria in a fuel cell. Int J Energy Res 32(9):870–876

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas GW (1996) Soil pH and soil acidity. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Sumner ME (eds) Methods of soil analysis: part 3—chemical methods, book series No. 5. SSSA and ASA, Madison, pp 475–489

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmers RA, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2010) Long-term performance of a plant microbial fuel cell with Spartina anglica. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 86:973–981

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Timmers RA, Rothballer M, Strik DPBTB, Engel M, Schulz S, Schloter M, Hartmann A, Hamelers B, Buisman C (2012) Microbial community structure elucidates performance of Glyceria maxima plant microbial fuel cell. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 94:537–548

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Timmers RA, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2013a) Electricity generation by a novel design tubular plant microbial fuel cell. Biomass Bioenergy 51:60–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Timmers RA, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2013b) Increase of power output by change of ion transport direction in a plant microbial fuel cell. Int J Energy Res 37(9):1103–1111

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tremouli A, Martinos M, Lyberatos G (2010) The Effects of salinity, pH and temperature on the performance of a microbial fuel cell. Waste Biomass Valor 8:2037–2043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Mashiko T, Maftukhah R, Kaku N, Pham DD, Ito H (2017) Nitrogen removal and power generation from treated municipal wastewater by its circulated irrigation for resource-saving rice cultivation. Water Sci Technol 75:898–907

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wetser K, Dieleman K, Buisman CJ, Strik DP (2017) Electricity from wetlands: tubular plant microbial fuels with silicone gas-diffusion biocathodes. Appl Energy 185:642–649

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu PH, Wang Y, Lu SY, Yu CP (2019) Effects of cathode materials on H2O2 production in microbial fuel cells. Desalin Water Treat 153:105–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Q, Li R, Ji M, Ren ZJ (2016) Organic content influences sediment microbial fuel cell performance and community structure. Bioresour Technol 220:549–556

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the research funding from Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (106-2221-E-002-023-MY3, 109-2221-E-002-084-MY2) and National Taiwan University from Excellence Research Program-Core Consortiums under Higher Education Sprout Project, Ministry of Education, Taiwan (NTUCCP-109L891203).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Natagarn Tongphanpharn, Chao-Chin Chang & Chang-Ping Yu

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, National Ilan University, Yilan, 260, Taiwan

    Chung-Yu Guan

  3. Environmental Technology Group, Wageningen University & Research, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6708 WG, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Wei-Shan Chen

Authors
  1. Natagarn Tongphanpharn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chung-Yu Guan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wei-Shan Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chao-Chin Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chang-Ping Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

NT, C-PY were involved in conceptualization; NT, C-YG, C-PY contributed to methodology; NT, W-SC were involved in formal analysis; NT, C-YG contributed to visualization; NT was involved in data curation, investigation and writing—original draft; C-YG, W-SC, C-PY contributed to writing—review and editing; C-PY was involved in funding acquisition and supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chang-Ping Yu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 196 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tongphanpharn, N., Guan, CY., Chen, WS. et al. Evaluation of long-term performance of plant microbial fuel cells using agricultural plants under the controlled environment. Clean Techn Environ Policy 25, 633–644 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02222-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-021-02222-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation