Abstract
Objective
To demonstrate that an enhanced sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) system can accelerate the degradation of cellulose in fresh water sediments as the accumulation of cellulose in lake sediments may aggravate the lake marsh, increase organic matter content and result in rapid deterioration of water quality and damage the ecosystem.
Results
After 330 days the highest cellulose removal efficiency (72.7 ± 2.1 %) was achieved in the presence of a SMFC with a carbon nanotube decorated cathode, followed by a SMFC without the cathode decoration (64.4 ± 2.8 %). The lowest cellulose removal efficiency (47.9 ± 2.1 %) was in the absence of SMFC. The sediment characterization analysis confirmed that the carbon nanotube decorated cathode enhances the electron transfer rate in the SMFC and improves the dissolved organic matter oxidation rate.
Conclusion
This study offers a relatively simple and promising new method for cellulose degradation in sediment.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973) (Grant No.: 2012CB721100); the National Science Fund of China (Grant No.: 51209116, 21306083); the Technology supporting program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No.: BE2014901, BE2015167); the Major projects of natural science research in Jiangsu Province (Grant No.: 15KJA530002); Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (ZK201312); The Restructured institutions innovation capacity of special funds of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2014EG111227) and the Priority Academic Program from Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.
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Zhu, D., Wang, DB., Song, Ts. et al. Enhancement of cellulose degradation in freshwater sediments by a sediment microbial fuel cell. Biotechnol Lett 38, 271–277 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-015-1985-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-015-1985-z