Abstract
Nonylphenol is a phenolic-based endocrine disruptor, widely used in industry, and found as a contaminant in water bodies around the world. Its bioaccumulation and adverse effects on the reproductive and endocrine systems are a problem for the environment and human health, so different types of systems have been studied for its degradation. However, the use of Microbial Fuel Cells, an emerging technology with potential for water treatment with simultaneous generation of bioelectricity, is not reported in the literature. Therefore, this study explored the degradation of nonylphenol with Microbial Fuel Cells, finding statistically significant results, which show that the system can remove 9.668 ± 0.168 mg L−1 of nonylphenol in 21 days. Likewise, bioelectricity generation was shown, with a maximum voltage of 109.6 mV, maximum current of 25.91 µA, power density of 0.6032 mW m−2, and normalized energy recovery of 3.216 W h m−3. All this places Microbial Fuel Cells as an emerging technology with potential use for treatment of nonylphenol contaminated waters, which will drive progress in the field and help to achieve a sustainable future.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) is thankfully acknowledged for partially supporting this work under Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) program awarded to Carlos Castillo-Zacarías (CVU:359310); Rafael Gomes Araújo (CVU: 71418), José Rodriguez-Rodriguez, (CVU:(445590), Magdalena Rostro-Alanis (371692) and Roberto Parra- Saldívar (CVU: 35753). The authors would like to acknowledge the Water Quality Center of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey for providing the facilities necessary to conduct this study, Alejandra Flores for her support with the analysis, Dr. Manuel Martinez and SAISA-Heineken Mexico treatment plant were instrumental for providing the activated sludge used in the experiments. Carlos Castillo-Zacarías acknowledge Red Científica por Nuevo León for its support.
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De la Peña, E., Castillo-Zacarías, C., Araújo, R.G. et al. Exploring the potential of microbial fuel cell-assisted biodegradation of nonylphenol. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 21, 2465–2474 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05112-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05112-3