Reutilize tire in microbial fuel cell for enhancing the nitrogen removal of the anammox process coupled with iron-carbon micro-electrolysis

doi:10.1007/s11783-021-1409-3

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (6) : 121 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1409-3

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Reutilize tire in microbial fuel cell for enhancing the nitrogen removal of the anammox process coupled with iron-carbon micro-electrolysis

Fei Xie, Bowei Zhao, Ying Cui, Xiao Ma, Xiao Zhang, Xiuping Yue(

)

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

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Abstract

• MFC promoted the nitrogen removal of anammox with Fe-C micro-electrolysis.

• Reutilize pyrolysis waste tire as micro-electrolysis and electrode materials.

• Total nitrogen removal efficiency of modified MFC increased to 85.00%.

• Candidatus kuenenia and SM1A02 were major genera responsible for nitrogen removal.

In this study, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were explored to promote the nitrogen removal performance of combined anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) and Fe-C micro-electrolysis (CAE) systems. The average total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of the modified MFC system was 85.00%, while that of the anammox system was 62.16%. Additionally, the effective operation time of this system increased from six (CAE system alone) to over 50 days, significantly promoting TN removal. The enhanced performance could be attributed to the electron transferred from the anode to the cathode, which aided in reducing nitrate/nitrite in denitrification. The H⁺ released through the proton exchange membrane caused a decrease in the pH, facilitating Fe corrosion. The pyrolyzed waste tire used as the cathode could immobilize microorganisms, enhance electron transport, and produce a natural Fe-C micro-electrolysis system. According to the microbial community analysis, Candidatus kuenenia was the major genus involved in the anammox process. Furthermore, the SM1A02 genus exhibited the highest abundance and was enriched the fastest, and could be a novel potential strain that aids the anammox process.

Keywords Waste tire MFCs Micro-electrolysis Anammox Feammox

Corresponding Author(s): Xiuping Yue

Issue Date: 05 March 2021

Cite this article:

Fei Xie,Bowei Zhao,Ying Cui, et al. Reutilize tire in microbial fuel cell for enhancing the nitrogen removal of the anammox process coupled with iron-carbon micro-electrolysis[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2021, 15(6): 121.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-021-1409-3
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2021/V15/I6/121

Fig.1 Double-chamber device with the PWT cathode.

Fig.2 COD reduction rates in the anode and average voltages of the MFC, anode-reference, reference-aeration cathode, and reference-anammox.

Fig.3 Nitrogen removal performance of R1 and R2 during stages 1–3. (a)

N H 4 +

-N removal; (b)

N O 2 −

-N removal; (c)

N O 3 −

-N and TN removal.

Fig.4 Reaction mechanisms in the R1 system. (1) Fe corrosion; (2) Neutralization; (3) Anammox; (4) Iron-Carbon Micro-Electrolysis; (5) NDFO; (6) Autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification; (7) Feammox.

Items		Stage 1 (1–30th day)		Stage 2 (31–50th day)		Stage 3 (51–104th day)
Items		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
$N H 4 +$ -N	Volume loading (g/L/d)	0.41±0.01		0.41±0.02		0.42±0.01
	Load removal (g/L/d)	0.29±0.01	0.26±0.02	0.29±0.02	0.28±0.01	0.33±0.03	0.28±0.02
	Influent (mg/L)	101.75±1.44		103.31±3.05		104.84±2.20
	Effluent (mg/L)	29.84±1.95	33.58±2.07	30.74±2.07	32.60±4.22	22.41±1.86	34.19±2.35
	Removal efficiency (%)	70.64±2.08	66.97±1.76	70.22±2.91	68.43±2.68	78.61±2.05	67.37±1.14
$N O 2 −$ -N	Volume loading (g/L/d)	0.52±0.01		0.53±0.01		0.54±0.02
	Load removal (g/L/d)	0.36±0.02	0.35±0.01	0.39±0.02	0.36±0.02	0.51±0.03	0.37±0.02
	Influent (mg/L)	131.15±2.63		132.88±3.11		135.00±2.09
	Effluent (mg/L)	41.02±1.98	43.42±2.71	35.40±2.17	42.99±3.05	8.22±0.75	41.68±2.28
	Removal efficiency (%)	68.72±3.05	66.87±1.37	73.38±1.43	67.65±3.18	93.89±3.21	69.12±0.71
TN	Volume loading (g/L/d)	0.93±0.03		0.94±0.01		0.96±0.01
	Load removal (g/L/d)	0.65±0.02	0.62±0.01	0.68±0.02	0.64±0.02	0.84±0.01	0.66±0.01
	Influent (mg/L)	232.90±2.75		236.19±4.02		239.85±2.56
	Effluent (mg/L)	88.13±1.62	95.88±2.48	80.58±1.75	93.87±1.82	35.95±0.98	93.77±1.14
	Removal efficiency (%)	62.16±1.89	60.75±2.51	65.87±1.55	62.46±2.15	85.00±1.75	63.06±2.11
$N O 3 −$ -N	Effluent (mg/L)	17.27±2.16	18.88±1.71	14.44±1.63	18.28±1.57	5.32±0.59	17.91±1.42
pH	Influent	7.02±0.01		7.01±0.01		7.04±0.02
	Effluent	7.38±0.03	7.41±0.04	7.32±0.03	7.41±0.02	7.07±0.01	7.39±0.03

Tab.1 Average pollutants removal in R1 and R2 during the three stages

Fig.5 Variations in the Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, and pH values in the R1 system.

Fig.6 Analysis of the microbial community structure in sludge samples of S1, S2, S3, and S4. (a) Venn diagram of the OTUs; (b) Principal coordinates analysis; (c) Relative abundance at phylum level; (d) Heatmap of the relative abundances of the genera.

Tab.2 Diversity indices of the microbial community compositions of four sludge samples

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