Bioelectrochemical oxidation of organics by alkali-halotolerant anodophilic biofilm under nitrogen-deficient, alkaline and saline conditions

Tharanga N Weerasinghe Mohottige; Maneesha P Ginige; Anna H Kaksonen; Ranjan Sarukkalige; Ka Yu Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.157

Bioelectrochemical oxidation of organics by alkali-halotolerant anodophilic biofilm under nitrogen-deficient, alkaline and saline conditions

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Dec;245(Pt A):890-898. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.157. Epub 2017 Aug 30.

Authors

Tharanga N Weerasinghe Mohottige¹, Maneesha P Ginige², Anna H Kaksonen³, Ranjan Sarukkalige⁴, Ka Yu Cheng⁵

Affiliations

¹ CSIRO Land and Water, Western Australia, Australia; Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia.
² CSIRO Land and Water, Western Australia, Australia.
³ CSIRO Land and Water, Western Australia, Australia; School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵ CSIRO Land and Water, Western Australia, Australia; School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia. Electronic address: kayu.cheng@csiro.au.

PMID: 28931205
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.157

Abstract

This work aimed to study the feasibility of using bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for organics removal under alkaline-saline and nitrogen (N) deficient conditions. Two BES inoculated with activated sludge were examined for organics (oxalate, acetate, formate) oxidation under alkaline-saline (pH 9.5, 25g/L NaCl) and N deficient conditions. One reactor (R1) received ammonium chloride as an N-source, while the other (R2) without. The reactors were initially loaded with only oxalate (25mM), but start-up was achieved only when acetate was added as co-substrate (5mM). Maximum current were R1: 908A/m³ (organic removal rate (ORR) 4.61kgCOD/m³·d) and R2: 540A/m³ (ORR 2.06kgCOD/m³·d). Formate was utilised by both anodic biofilms, but the inefficient oxalate removal was likely due to the paucity of microorganisms that catalyse decarboxylation of oxalate into formate. Further development of this promising technology for the treatment of alkaline-saline wastewater is warranted.

Keywords: Alkaliphilic; Alumina; Bayer process; Halophilic; Oxalate.

MeSH terms

Alkalies
Biofilms*
Bioreactors*
Nitrogen
Sewage

Substances

Alkalies
Sewage
Nitrogen