Abstract
A microbial fuel cell coupled with constructed wetland (CW-MFC) was built to remove heavy metals (Zn and Ni) from sludge. The performance for the effects of substrates (granular activated carbon (GAC), ceramsite) and plants (Iris pseudacorus, water hyacinth) towards the heavy metal treatment as well as electricity generation was systematically investigated to determine the optimal constructions of CW-MFCs. The CW-MFC systems possessed higher Zn and Ni removal efficiencies as compared to CW. The maximal removal rates of Zn (76.88%) and Ni (66.02%) were obtained in system CW-MFC based on GAC and water hyacinth (GAC- and WH-CW-MFC). Correspondingly, the system produced the maximum voltage of 534.30 mV and power density of 70.86 mW·m−3, respectively. Plant roots and electrodes contributed supremely to the removal of heavy metals, especially for GAC- and WH-CW-MFC systems. The coincident enrichment rates of Zn and Ni reached 21.10% and 26.04% for plant roots and 14.48% and 16.50% for electrodes, respectively. A majority of the heavy metals on the sludge surface were confirmed as Zn and Ni. Furthermore, the high-valence Zn and Ni were effectively reduced to low-valence or elemental metals. This study provides a theoretical guidance for the optimal construction of CW-MFC and the resource utilization of sludge containing heavy metals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Not applicable.
References
Ahmed MH, Byrne JA, McLaughlin J, Ahmed W (2013) Study of human serum albumin adsorption and conformational change on DLC and silicon doped DLC using XPS and FTIR spectroscopy. J Biomater Nanobiotechnol 04(02):194–203. https://doi.org/10.4236/jbnb.2013.42024
Blumentrit P, Yoshitake M, Nemšák S, Kim T, Nagata T (2011) XPS and UPS study on band alignment at Pt–Zn-terminated ZnO(0001) interface. Appl Surf Sci 258(2):780–785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.08.095
Chen SY, Cheng YK (2019) Effects of sulfur dosage and inoculum size on pilot-scale thermophilic bioleaching of heavy metals from sewage sludge. Chemosphere 234:346–355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.06.084
Chen Z, Huang YC, Liang JH, Zhao F, Zhu YG (2012) A novel sediment microbial fuel cell with a biocathode in the rice rhizosphere. Bioresour Technol 108:55–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.10.040
Di L, Li Y, Nie L, Wang S, Kong F (2020) Influence of plant radial oxygen loss in constructed wetland combined with microbial fuel cell on nitrobenzene removal from aqueous solution. J Hazard Mater 394:122542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122542
Doherty L, Zhao Y, Zhao X, Hu Y, Hao X, Xu L, Liu R (2015) A review of a recently emerged technology: constructed wetland--microbial fuel cells. Water Res 85:38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.08.016
Fan J, Zhang B, Zhang J, Ngo HH, Guo W, Liu F, Guo Y, Wu H (2013) Intermittent aeration strategy to enhance organics and nitrogen removal in subsurface flow constructed wetlands. Bioresour Technol 141:117–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.03.077
Fang Z, Song HL, Cang N, Li XN (2013) Performance of microbial fuel cell coupled constructed wetland system for decolorization of azo dye and bioelectricity generation. Bioresour Technol 144:165–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.06.073
Fang Z, Cheng S, Wang H, Cao X, Li X (2017) Feasibility study of simultaneous azo dye decolorization and bioelectricity generation by microbial fuel cell-coupled constructed wetland: substrate effects. RSC Adv 7(27):16542–16552. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ra01255a
Gao J, Luo Q, Zhang C, Li B, Meng L (2013) Enhanced electrokinetic removal of cadmium from sludge using a coupled catholyte circulation system with multilayer of anion exchange resin. Chem Eng J 234:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2013.08.019
Ge X, Cao X, Song X, Wang Y, Si Z, Zhao Y, Wang W, Tesfahunegn AA (2020) Bioenergy generation and simultaneous nitrate and phosphorus removal in a pyrite-based constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell. Bioresour Technol 296:122350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122350
Gupta S, Srivastava P, Patil SA, Yadav AK (2021) A comprehensive review on emerging constructed wetland coupled microbial fuel cell technology: potential applications and challenges. Bioresour Technol 320(Pt B):124376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124376
Helder M, Strik DP, Hamelers HV, Kuhn AJ, Blok C, Buisman CJ (2010) Concurrent bio-electricity and biomass production in three plant-microbial fuel cells using Spartina anglica, Arundinella anomala and Arundo donax. Bioresour Technol 101(10):3541–3547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.12.124
Hu S, Hu J, Sun Y, Zhu Q, Wu L, Liu B, Xiao K, Liang S, Yang J, Hou H (2021) Simultaneous heavy metal removal and sludge deep dewatering with Fe(II) assisted electrooxidation technology. J Hazard Mater 405:124072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124072
Ke X, Zhang G, Wan T, Gao F (2012) Heavy-metal accumulation in low-sludge wastewater treatment technique: sonication-cryptic growth. J Environ Eng 138(3):248–251. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)ee.1943-7870.0000418
Li M, Zhou S, Xu Y, Liu Z, Ma F, Zhi L, Zhou X (2018) Simultaneous Cr(VI) reduction and bioelectricity generation in a dual chamber microbial fuel cell. Chem Eng J 334:1621–1629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.11.144
Liu L, Yuan Y, Li FB, Feng CH (2011) In-situ Cr(VI) reduction with electrogenerated hydrogen peroxide driven by iron-reducing bacteria. Bioresour Technol 102(3):2468–2473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.11.013
Liu S, Song H, Wei S, Yang F, Li X (2014) Bio-cathode materials evaluation and configuration optimization for power output of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetland - microbial fuel cell systems. Bioresour Technol 166:575–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.05.104
Liu W, Zhang J, Jin Y, Zhao X, Cai Z (2015) Adsorption of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) by extracellular polymeric substances extracted from aerobic granular sludge: efficiency of protein. J Environ Chem Eng 3(2):1223–1232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2015.04.009
Liu B, Ji M, Zhai H (2018a) Anodic potentials, electricity generation and bacterial community as affected by plant roots in sediment microbial fuel cell: effects of anode locations. Chemosphere 209:739–747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.06.122
Liu T, Liu Z, Zheng Q, Lang Q, Xia Y, Peng N, Gai C (2018b) Effect of hydrothermal carbonization on migration and environmental risk of heavy metals in sewage sludge during pyrolysis. Bioresour Technol 247:282–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.090
Liu W, Zheng J, Ou X, Liu X, Song Y, Tian C, Rong W, Shi Z, Dang Z, Lin Z (2018c) Effective extraction of Cr(VI) from hazardous gypsum sludge via controlling the phase transformation and chromium species. Environ Sci Technol 52(22):13336–13342. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b02213
Liu Y, Song P, Gai R, Yan C, Jiao Y, Yin D, Cai L, Zhang L (2019) Recovering platinum from wastewater by charring biofilm of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). J Saudi Chem Soc 23(3):338–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jscs.2018.08.003
Liu T, Xu D, Wang L, Yang W, Xia Y (2020) Effect of electrode spacing on the removal of Zn and Ni in sludge and its electricity generation performance by CW-MFC. Chem Ind Eng Prog 1–13 (in Chinese). https://doi.org/10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2020-1665
Logan BE, Hamelers B, Rozendal R, Schröder U, Keller J, Freguia S, Aelterman P, Verstraete W, Rabaey K (2006) Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ Sci Technol 40(17):5181–5192. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0605016
Meng D, Wu J, Xu Z, Xu Y, Li H, Jin W, Zhang J (2020) Effect of passive ventilation on the performance of unplanted sludge treatment wetlands: heavy metal removal and microbial community variation. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 27(25):31665–31676. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09288-w
Morozov IG, Belousova OV, Ortega D, Mafina MK, Kuznetcov MV (2015) Structural, optical, XPS and magnetic properties of Zn particles capped by ZnO nanoparticles. J Alloys Compd 633:237–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.01.285
Mu C, Wang L, Wang L (2020) Performance of lab-scale microbial fuel cell coupled with unplanted constructed wetland for hexavalent chromium removal and electricity production. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 27(20):25140–25148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08982-z
Pattanayak P, Papiya F, Kumar V, Pramanik N, Kundu PP (2019) Deposition of Ni–NiO nanoparticles on the reduced graphene oxide filled polypyrrole: evaluation as cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells. Sustain Energy Fuels 3(7):1808–1826. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9se00055k
Qian L, Wang S, Xu D, Guo Y, Tang X, Wang L (2016) Treatment of municipal sewage sludge in supercritical water: a review. Water Res 89:118–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.11.047
Rismani-Yazdi H, Christy AD, Carver SM, Yu Z, Dehority BA, Tuovinen OH (2011) Effect of external resistance on bacterial diversity and metabolism in cellulose-fed microbial fuel cells. Bioresour Technol 102(1):278–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.05.012
Saz C, Ture C, Turker OC, Yakar A (2018) Effect of vegetation type on treatment performance and bioelectric production of constructed wetland modules combined with microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC) treating synthetic wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 25(9):8777–8792. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1208-y
Shamsollahi HR, Alimohammadi M, Momeni S, Naddafi K, Nabizadeh R, Khorasgani FC, Masinaei M, Yousefi M (2019) Assessment of the health risk induced by accumulated heavy metals from anaerobic digestion of biological sludge of the lettuce. Biol Trace Elem Res 188(2):514–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-018-1422-y
Shen X, Zhang J, Liu D, Hu Z, Liu H (2018) Enhance performance of microbial fuel cell coupled surface flow constructed wetland by using submerged plants and enclosed anodes. Chem Eng J 351:312–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.06.117
Sheng G, Yang S, Sheng J, Hu J, Tan X, Wang X (2011) Macroscopic and microscopic investigation of Ni(II) sequestration on diatomite by batch, XPS, and EXAFS techniques. Environ Sci Technol 45(18):7718–7726. https://doi.org/10.1021/es202108q
Srivastava P, Yadav AK, Mishra BK (2015) The effects of microbial fuel cell integration into constructed wetland on the performance of constructed wetland. Bioresour Technol 195:223–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.05.072
Srivastava P, Dwivedi S, Kumar N, Abbassi R, Garaniya V, Yadav AK (2017) Performance assessment of aeration and radial oxygen loss assisted cathode based integrated constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell systems. Bioresour Technol 244(Pt 1):1178–1182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.026
Teoh T-P, Ong S-A, Ho L-N, Wong Y-S, Oon Y-L, Oon Y-S, Tan S-M, Thung W-E (2020) Up-flow constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell: Influence of floating plant, aeration and circuit connection on wastewater treatment performance and bioelectricity generation. J Water Process Eng 36:101371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101371
Villasenor J, Capilla P, Rodrigo MA, Canizares P, Fernandez FJ (2013) Operation of a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland--microbial fuel cell treating wastewater under different organic loading rates. Water Res 47(17):6731–6738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2013.09.005
Vivet L, Benoit R, Falzon MF, Tan KL, Dorairaj D, Morelle JM (2020) XPS, ToF SIMS and wettability analyses on Ni surfaces after Ar-H2 RF plasma treatment: an efficient and optimized plasma treatment approach. Surf Coat Technol 398:126094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2020.126094
Wang J, Song X, Wang Y, Bai J, Bai H, Yan D, Cao Y, Li Y, Yu Z, Dong G (2017) Bioelectricity generation, contaminant removal and bacterial community distribution as affected by substrate material size and aquatic macrophyte in constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell. Bioresour Technol 245(Pt A):372–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.191
Wang X, Tian Y, Liu H, Zhao X, Wu Q (2019) Effects of influent COD/TN ratio on nitrogen removal in integrated constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell systems. Bioresour Technol 271:492–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.039
Wang Y, Cai Z, Sheng S, Pan F, Chen F, Fu J (2020) Comprehensive evaluation of substrate materials for contaminants removal in constructed wetlands. Sci Total Environ 701:134736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134736
Wu Z-W, Tyan S-L, Chen H-H, Huang J-C-A, Huang Y-C, Lee C-R, Mo T-S (2017) Temperature-dependent photoluminescence and XPS study of ZnO nanowires grown on flexible Zn foil via thermal oxidation. Superlattice Microst 107:38–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2017.04.016
Xu F, Ouyang DL, Rene ER, Ng HY, Guo LL, Zhu YJ, Zhou LL, Yuan Q, Miao MS, Wang Q, Kong Q (2019) Electricity production enhancement in a constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell system for treating saline wastewater. Bioresour Technol 288:121462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121462
Xu H, Song HL, Singh RP, Yang YL, Xu JY, Yang XL (2021) Simultaneous reduction of antibiotics leakage and methane emission from constructed wetland by integrating microbial fuel cell. Bioresour Technol 320(Pt A):124285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124285
Yang J, Zhao C, Xing M, Lin Y (2013) Enhancement stabilization of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cr and Cu) during vermifiltration of liquid-state sludge. Bioresour Technol 146:649–655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.144
Zhang J, Zhou X, Wang H, Zhu D, Li X (2019) Research advances in treatment of heavy metal wastewater by microbial fuel cells. CIESC J 70(06):2027–2035 (in Chinese). https://doi.org/10.11949/j.issn.0438-1157.20181308
Zhang K, Wu X, Luo H, Li X, Chen W, Chen J, Mo Y, Wang W (2020) CH4 control and associated microbial process from constructed wetland (CW) by microbial fuel cells (MFC). J Environ Manag 260:110071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110071
Zhao C, Shang D, Zou Y, Du Y, Wang Q, Xu F, Ren L, Kong Q (2020) Changes in electricity production and microbial community evolution in constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell exposed to wastewater containing Pb(II). Sci Total Environ 732:139127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139127
Zhong F, Yu C, Chen Y, Wu X, Wu J, Liu G, Zhang J, Deng Z, Cheng S (2020) Nutrient removal process and cathodic microbial community composition in integrated vertical-flow constructed wetland - microbial fuel cells filled with different substrates. Front Microbiol 11:1896. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01896
Zhou Y, Xu D, Xiao E, Xu D, Xu P, Zhang X, Zhou Q, He F, Wu Z (2018) Relationship between electrogenic performance and physiological change of four wetland plants in constructed wetland-microbial fuel cells during non-growing seasons. J Environ Sci (China) 70:54–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.11.008
Zhou G, Gu Y, Yuan H, Gong Y, Wu Y (2020) Selecting sustainable technologies for disposal of municipal sewage sludge using a multi-criterion decision-making method: a case study from China. Resour Conserv Recycl 161:104881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104881
Funding
This study was supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Anhui Provincial Science Technology Department (201904a07020083), the Key Program of Anhui Polytechnic University (Xjky2020086), and the Anhui Polytechnic University “Young and Middle-Aged Top Talent” Training Program.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DX formulated overarching research goals and aims. LW and TL performed material preparation, data collection, and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LW. Revision was charged by QZ and ZT. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Alexandros Stefanakis
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Highlights
a. Six lab-scaled CW-MFCs were constructed to remove Zn and Ni from sludge.
b. GAC and water hyacinth boosted the heavy metal removal and bioelectricity generation.
c. High-valence Zn and Ni were effectively reduced to low-valence or elemental metals.
d. The findings may be extended to the treatment of refractory heavy metals from excess sludge.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, ., Xu, D., Zhang, Q. et al. Simultaneous removal of heavy metals and bioelectricity generation in microbial fuel cell coupled with constructed wetland: an optimization study on substrate and plant types. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 768–778 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15688-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15688-3