Improvement of the anodic bioelectrocatalytic activity of mixed culture biofilms by a simple consecutive electrochemical selection procedure

Biosens Bioelectron. 2008 Dec 1;24(4):1012-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2008.08.001. Epub 2008 Aug 9.

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that the anodic, bioelectrocatalytic performance of wastewater inoculum based, mixed culture microbial biofilms can be considerably improved by using a consecutive, purely electrochemical selection and biofilm acclimatization procedure. The procedure may represent an alternative to a repetitive mechanical biofilm removal, re-suspension and electrochemically facilitated biofilm formation. By using the proposed technique, the bioelectrocatalytic current density was increased from the primary to the secondary biofilm from 250 microAcm(-2) to about 500 microAcm(-2); and the power density of respective microbial fuel cells could be increased from 686 mWm(-2) to 1487 mWm(-2). The electrochemical characterization of the biofilms reveals a strong similarity to Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms, which may indicate a dominating role of this bacterium in the biofilms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bioelectric Energy Sources*
  • Biofilms / growth & development*
  • Catalysis
  • Cell Separation / instrumentation*
  • Coculture Techniques / methods*
  • Electrochemistry / methods*
  • Electrodes
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Geobacter / isolation & purification*
  • Geobacter / physiology*
  • Geobacter / radiation effects