Acetate and electricity generation from methane in conductive fiber membrane- microbial fuel cells

Ya-Nan Bai; Fang Zhang; Lin-Peng Yu; Ya-Li Zhang; Yun Wu; Tai-Chu Lau; He-Ping Zhao; Raymond J Zeng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150147

Acetate and electricity generation from methane in conductive fiber membrane- microbial fuel cells

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jan 15:804:150147. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150147. Epub 2021 Sep 4.

Authors

Ya-Nan Bai¹, Fang Zhang², Lin-Peng Yu², Ya-Li Zhang², Yun Wu³, Tai-Chu Lau⁴, He-Ping Zhao⁵, Raymond J Zeng⁶

Affiliations

¹ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; Advanced Laboratory for Environmental Research and Technology, USTC-CityU, Suzhou, China.
² Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China.
⁴ Advanced Laboratory for Environmental Research and Technology, USTC-CityU, Suzhou, China; State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
⁵ College of Environmental and Resource Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁶ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China; Advanced Laboratory for Environmental Research and Technology, USTC-CityU, Suzhou, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. Electronic address: rzeng@ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 34509840
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150147

Abstract

Microbial conversion of methane to electricity, fuels, and liquid chemicals has attracted much attention. However, due to the low solubility of methane, it is not considered a suitable substrate for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this study, a conductive fiber membrane (CFM) module was constructed as the bioanode of methane-driven MFCs, directly delivering methane. After biofilm formation on the CFM surface, a steady voltage output of 0.6 to 0.7 V was recorded, and the CFM-MFCs obtained a maximum power density of 64 ± 2 mW/m². Moreover, methane oxidation produced a high concentration of intermediate acetate (up to 7.1 mM). High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing suggests that the microbial community was significantly changed after electricity generation. Methane-related archaea formed a symbiotic consortium with characterized electroactive bacteria and fermentative bacteria, suggesting a combination of three types of microorganisms for methane conversion into acetate and electricity.

Keywords: Acetate; Electricity generation; Methane conversion; Microbial community; Microbial fuel cells (MFCs).

MeSH terms

Acetates
Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Electricity
Electrodes
Methane
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics

Substances

Acetates
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Methane