Electrogenic microorganisms are the heart of microbial fuel cell (MFC) systems that enable the conversion of waste into bioelectricity. Bacteria able to generate current, found in various natural and anthropogenic environments, need simple substrates such as acetate or glucose. Complex substrates are utilized by bacterial consortia made up of strains that exhibit a wide range of enzymatic and metabolic activity that determines the type of substrate they are able to degrade. The characteristics of the environment that a bacterial consortium develops in strongly affect the consortium's species composition and electrogenic potential. This study presents the first attempt to use industrial raw wastewater from the hydrothermal treatment of wood (WHTW) as a substrate and a source of bacterial consortia for MFC, so that such wastewater could simultaneously be treated and produce bioelectricity. The power generated in MFCs fed with WHTW was enhanced remarkably from 70 to 360mW/m2 when municipal wastewater was introduced into the reactor. An analysis of the bacterial composition of these two types of wastewater revealed that the WHTW was dominated by the genera Thermoanaerobacterium and Paenibacillus while in the biofilm developed in the anode the main genera were Hydrogenophilus and Anaerobaculum. It has been shown for the first time that highly polluted wood industry wastewater may be effectively treated in MFC systems and the use of appropriate bacterial consortium may result in enhancing power generation accompanying wastewater treatment.
Keywords: Electricity from wastewater; Microbial fuel cell; Syntrophic consortium; Wastewater treatment; Wood hydrothermal treatment wastewater.
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