Efficient sulfur cycling improved the performance of flowback water treatment in a microbial fuel cell

Xiaoting Zhang; Shiqiang Wei; Daijun Zhang; Peili Lu; Yongkui Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116368

Efficient sulfur cycling improved the performance of flowback water treatment in a microbial fuel cell

J Environ Manage. 2022 Dec 1:323:116368. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116368. Epub 2022 Sep 30.

Authors

Xiaoting Zhang¹, Shiqiang Wei², Daijun Zhang³, Peili Lu⁴, Yongkui Huang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Chongqing, 400715, China; State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Chongqing, 400715, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China; Department of Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China. Electronic address: dzhang@cqu.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China; Department of Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
⁵ National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Shale Gas Exploration and Development, Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chongqing, 401120, China.

PMID: 36261973
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116368

Abstract

The sulfate-reducing mediate microbial fuel cell (MFC) shows advantages in treating recalcitrant flowback water (FW) from shale gas extraction, but the stability under fluctuant concentrations of sulfate in FW remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the impact of fluctuant sulfate concentrations on the performance of FW treatment in MFCs. Sulfate concentration showed a significant role in the MFC treating FW, with a COD removal of 69.8 ± 9.7% and a peak power density of 2164 ± 396 mW/m³ under 247.5 mg/L sulfate, but only 39.1% and 1216 mW/m³ under 50 mg/L sulfate. The fluctuation of sulfate in a short time allowed to a stable performance, but a longtime intermittent decrease of feeding sulfate concentration significantly inhibited power generation to no more than 512 mW/m³. The sulfur cycling between sulfate and sulfide existed in the system, but the cycling rate became much lower after the longtime intermittent decrease, with resulting to the decreased power generation. Abundant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) of Desulfuromonadaceae and Helicobacteraceae in the MFC stably feeding with 247.5 mg/L sulfate supported a high sulfur cycling rate. With the cooperation of abundant sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) of Desulfovibrionaceae (capable of producing electricity) on the anode and Desulfobacteraceae in anolyte, this sulfur cycling endowed the MFC with high sulfate tolerance and critically contributed to recalcitrant organics removal and power generation. However, much less SOB of Helicobacteraceae and Campylobacteraceae on the anode with high S⁰ accumulation on the surface after the longtime intermittent decrease of sulfate likely led to the low sulfur cycling rate. With also less SRB of Marinilabiaceae (capable of producing electricity) and Synergistaceae in the system, this low sulfur cycling rate thus hampered power generation. This research provides an important reference for the bioelectrochemical treatment of wastewater containing recalcitrant organics and sulfate.

Keywords: Flowback water treatment; Fluctuant sulfate concentration; Microbial fuel cell; Power generation; Stability.

MeSH terms

Bacteria / metabolism
Bioelectric Energy Sources* / microbiology
Desulfovibrio* / metabolism
Natural Gas
Sulfates / metabolism
Sulfides / metabolism
Sulfur / metabolism
Wastewater
Water Purification*

Substances

Waste Water
Natural Gas
Sulfur
Sulfates
Sulfides