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Synergistically improved methane production from anaerobic wastewater treatment by iron/polyaniline composite

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Abstract

The methane (CH4) production could be enhanced effectively by adding iron oxides and polyaniline (PANI) composite in anaerobic wastewater treatment. Synergic improvement on the methane production was observed in anaerobic system which was amended by the iron oxides/PANI composite. A total of ~530 mL of methane was produced from the anaerobic bio-system added composite, which was ~1.5 times of the sum of the systems added with the iron oxides and PANI. Then, the effect of the addition of the iron oxides/PANI composite on the degradation of organics, metabolism of the acetic acid, and the bio-electron transfer at the interface of composite was also investigated. The results showed that the iron oxide component in composite increases the activity of PTA enzymes to improve the production of acetic acid, thereby increase the methanogenesis by the acetoclastic methanogens. The PANI layer of the composites has a high bio-affinity, which makes the bio-electron transfer between the interface of electron-carrier and the material easier. Generally, the addition of iron oxides/PANI composite improved methanogenesis by the acetoclastic methanogens as well as improve the microbial extracellular electrons transfer at the interface of material.

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Funding

This project is financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO.2019YC04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Qian Hu, Jie Zhou, Bin Qiu & Qiang Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Mold (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education, National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Gang Song

  3. Integrated Composites Laboratory (ICL), Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1512 Middle Dr, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Zhanhu Guo

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  1. Qian Hu
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  2. Jie Zhou
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  3. Bin Qiu
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  5. Gang Song
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Correspondence to Bin Qiu, Gang Song or Zhanhu Guo.

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Hu, Q., Zhou, J., Qiu, B. et al. Synergistically improved methane production from anaerobic wastewater treatment by iron/polyaniline composite. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 4, 265–273 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00236-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00236-x

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