Microbial electrolysis cells with biocathodes and driven by microbial fuel cells for simultaneous enhanced Co(II) and Cu(II) removal

doi:10.1007/s11783-015-0805-y

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2015, Vol. 9

Issue (6) : 1084-1095 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-015-0805-y

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Microbial electrolysis cells with biocathodes and driven by microbial fuel cells for simultaneous enhanced Co(II) and Cu(II) removal

Jingya SHEN¹,Yuliang SUN¹,Liping HUANG^1,^*(

),Jinhui YANG²

1. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2. Experiment Center of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

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Abstract

Cobalt and copper recovery from aqueous Co(II) and Cu(II) is one critical step for cobalt and copper wastewaters treatment. Previous tests have primarily examined Cu(II) and Co(II) removal in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) with abiotic cathodes and driven by microbial fuel cell (MFCs). However, Cu(II) and Co(II) removal rates were still slow. Here we report MECs with biocathodes and driven by MFCs where enhanced removal rates of 6.0±0.2 mg?L⁻¹?h⁻¹ for Cu(II) at an initial concentration of 50 mg?L⁻¹ and 5.3±0.4 mg?L⁻¹ h⁻¹ for Co(II) at an initial 40 mg?L⁻¹ were achieved, 1.7 times and 3.3 times as high as those in MECs with abiotic cathodes and driven by MFCs. Species of Cu(II) was reduced to pure copper on the cathodes of MFCs whereas Co(II) was removed associated with microorganisms on the cathodes of the connected MECs. Higher Cu(II) concentrations and smaller working volumes in the cathode chambers of MFCs further improved removal rates of Cu(II) (115.7 mg?L⁻¹?h⁻¹) and Co(II) (6.4 mg?L⁻¹?h⁻¹) with concomitantly achieving hydrogen generation (0.05±0.00 mol?mol⁻¹ COD). Phylogenetic analysis on the biocathodes indicates Proteobacteria dominantly accounted for 67.9% of the total reads, followed by Firmicutes (14.0%), Bacteroidetes (6.1%), Tenericutes (2.5%), Lentisphaerae (1.4%), and Synergistetes (1.0%). This study provides a beneficial attempt to achieve simultaneous enhanced Cu(II) and Co(II) removal, and efficient Cu(II) and Co(II) wastewaters treatment without any external energy consumption.

Keywords biocathode microbial electrolysis cell microbial fuel cell Cu(II) removal Co(II) removal

Corresponding Author(s): Liping HUANG

Online First Date: 02 July 2015 Issue Date: 23 November 2015

Cite this article:

Jingya SHEN,Yuliang SUN,Liping HUANG, et al. Microbial electrolysis cells with biocathodes and driven by microbial fuel cells for simultaneous enhanced Co(II) and Cu(II) removal[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2015, 9(6): 1084-1095.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-015-0805-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2015/V9/I6/1084

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of MECs with biocathodes and driven by MFCs for simultaneous enhanced Cu(II) and Co(II) removal

Fig.2 (a) Cu(II) and Co(II) removal rates, (b) polarization curve of MFCs, (c) cyclic voltammetry tests on the biocathodes of MECs, and (d) peak current – scan rate on the biotic and abiotic cathodes of MECs (working volume in the cathode chambers of MFCs: 25 mL)

Tab.1 Yields of copper, cobalt, hydrogen, organics and biomass, and operational efficiencies in the MECs with biocathodes and driven by MFCs under various conditions

Fig.3 SEM observation on the cathodes of (a) MFCs and (b) MECs after around 10 fed-batch cycles operation (square indicates the location of EDS analysis). EDS results on products of (c) Cu(II) reduction and (d) Co(II) removal associated with bacteria

Fig.4 Theoretical cathode potentials for half-reactions of (a) Cu(II) to Cu(I), Cu(II) to Cu and Cu(I) to Cu, and (b) Co(III) to Co(II), Co(III) to Co₃O₄ and Co(II) to Co, at different pH values

Fig.5 (a) Cu(II) and (b) Co(II) removal rates, (c) polarization curve of MFCs, (d) applied voltage and cathode potential in the biocathode MECs, (e) cyclic voltammetry tests and (f) linear sweep voltammetry on the cathodes of MFCs under various initial Cu(II) concentration conditions (working volume in the cathode chambers of MFCs: 25 mL)

Fig.6 (a) Cu(II) and Co(II) removal rates, and internal resistances of MFCs, (b) polarization curves of MFCs, (c) applied voltage and cathode potential, and (d) circuit current in the biocathode MECs under a smaller working volume of 13 mL in the cathode chambers of MFCs (initial Cu(II) concentration: 1000 mg?L⁻¹)

Fig.7 Relative abundance of bacterial reads retrieved from the biocathodes of MECs classified at the (a) phylum and (b) class level. Phyla and classes that represented less than 0.5% of the total bacterial community composition were classified as “others”

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