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Anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria is a promising catalyst for constructing bioanode, but the mixed culture with non-photosynthetic bacteria is inevitable in an open environment application. In this study, a Rhodopseudomonas-dominated mixed culture with other electrogenic bacteria was investigated for deciphering the differentiated performance on electricity generation in light or dark conditions. The kinetic study showed that reaction rate of OM degradation was 9 times higher than that under dark condition, demonstrating that OM degradation was enhanced by photosynthesis. However, CE under light condition was lower. It indicated that part of OM was used to provide hydrogen donors for the fixation of CO 2 or hydrogen production in photosynthesis, decreasing the OM used for electron transfer. In addition, higher COD concentration was not conducive to electricity generation. EIS analysis demonstrated that higher OM concentration would increase Rct to hinder the transfer of electrons from bacteria to the electrode. Indirect and direct electron transfer were revealed by CV analysis for light and dark biofilm, respectively, and nanowires were also observed by SEM graphs, further revealing the differentiate performance. Microbial community analysis demonstrated Rhodopseudomonas was dominated in light and decreased in dark, but Geobacter increased apparently from light to dark, resulting in different power generation performance. The findings revealed the differentiated performance on electricity generation and pollutant removal by mixed culture of phototrophic bacteria in light or dark, which will improve the power generation from photo-microbial fuel cells., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the engineering-oriented three-dimensional (3D) bioanode concept was applied, demonstrating that spiral-stairs-like/rolled carbon felt (SCF/RCF) configurations achieved good performances in air-cathode microbial fuel cells (ACMFCs). With the 3D anodes, ACMFCs generated significantly higher power densities of 1535 mW/m 3 (SCF) and 1800 mW/m 3 (RCF), compared with that of a traditional flat carbon felt anode (FCF, 315 mW/m 3 ). The coulombic efficiency of 15.39 % at SCF anode and 14.34 % at RCF anode also is higher than the 7.93 % at FCF anode. The 3D anode ACMFCs exhibited favorable removal of chemical oxygen demand (96 % of SCF and RCF) and total nitrogen (97 % of SCF, 99 % of RCF). Further results show that three-dimensional anode structures could enrich more electrode surface biomass and diversify the biofilm microbial communities for promoting bioelectroactivity, denitrification, and nitrification. These results demonstrate that three-dimensional anodes with active biofilm is a promising strategy for creating scalable MFCs-based wastewater treatment system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microbial electrosynthesis is a promising technology for high-value added products generation from organic and inorganic waste. In this work, autotrophic dual-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) were set up for N 2 fixation at -0.9 V vs Ag/AgCl (sat. KCl) cathodic potential under ambient conditions. Higher NH 4 + production yield (average value of 0.35 µmol h -1 cm -2 , normalized to cathode surface area) and higher faradaic efficiency (FE, 20.25%) were obtained with intermittent addition of N 2 and CO 2 , while the yield and FE were only 0.018 µmol h -1 cm -2 and 4.21% in the absence of CO 2 . Furthermore, cyclic voltammograms (CV) explained the bioelectrochemical behavior of N 2 reduction was coupled with CO 2 reduction in the autotrophic MECs. Microbial community analysis and functional prediction in the cathodic chamber revealed that Xanthobacter and Hydrogenophaga played as producers for N 2 and CO 2 fixation and Pannonibacter acting as a decomposer for converting organic nitrogen to ammonium. This work not only provided an optional bioelectrocatalytic method for N 2 fixation with negative CO 2 -emissions but also revealed the mechanism of simultaneous fixation of N 2 and CO 2 via Calvin cycle in autotrophic MECs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Air-cathode microbial fuel cells (ACMFCs) can extract available electrons from the low C/N ratio wastewater (LCNW) for pollutant degradation and power generation. However, the multiple effects of operating parameters and their relationship between the performances and parameters are still lacking. In this study, several ACMFCs for simultaneous nitritation/denitritation (SND) and energy recovery were constructed and evaluated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH 4 + ), and several derived parameters (e.g., organic loading rate (OLR), nitrogen loading rate (NLR)). Results indicated that ACMFCs could be used to treat LCNW successfully with high pollutant removal rates and sustainable current generation. Maximum removal efficiencies of 94% COD, 92% NH ext ), and several derived parameters (e.g., organic loading rate (OLR), nitrogen loading rate (NLR)). Results indicated that ACMFCs could be used to treat LCNW successfully with high pollutant removal rates and sustainable current generation. Maximum removal efficiencies of 94% COD, 92% NH 4 + -N, and 92% total nitrogen (TN) were achieved. A maximum power density of 1400 mW m -2 and columbic efficiency of 69.2% were also obtained at a low C/N ratio of 1.7-2.6. Low C/N ratios promoted SND by balancing nitritation and denitritation. The microbial community and their predicated function results showed considerable nitrifiers and denitrificans were enriched in the ACMFCs, contributing to SND and power recovery. Further analyses showed that the NH 4 + -N could inhibit SND, but PBS and R ext had no obvious effects on this outcome. Co-occurrence network analysis demonstrated that power is positively correlated with COD and R ext ; strong correlations between organic removal and COD, and between nitrogen removal and ammonia, conductivity, and C/N ratio were also noted. Overall, the appropriate control of such parameters is necessary to achieve efficient SND in ACMFCs for LCNW treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Urine wastewater is used as fuel in microbial fuel cells to generate power for several applications. However, the knowledge on the removal efficiencies of pollutants and bacterial composition of electrode biofilm is still lacking. In this study, two air-exposed biocathode microbial fuel cells (AEB-MFCs) were constructed and some nitrogen-removing consortium were inoculated to fabricate multifunctional AEBs for urine treatment and energy recovery. Results demonstrated that urine wastewater can be degraded through one-pot degradation without positive aeration. The removal efficiencies of NH 4 + -N, total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand reached 86.8% ± 1.5%, 62.7% ± 2.3%, and 52.7% ± 1.6% respectively. Cyclic voltammetry illustrated several catalytic activities related to C/N metabolism occurred in both biofilms and varied with the operation continuing in a single stable cycle. In addition, the community structure analysis revealed that many active microorganisms, including nitrogen-removing bacteria, heterotrophs, and electrochemically active bacteria were enriched in both electrodes, especially many halophilic nitrifiers/denitrifiers occupied in AEBs and directed the system toward the integrated pathways of halophilic nitrogen removal and energy recovery. This study presented a novel method for the energy conversion and effective degradation of urine, which can serve as a promising technology for urine wastewater treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To address the issue of insufficient electrons during denitrification, an iron fuel cell (IFC) bioreactor using iron as abiotic anode was designed. The nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of IFC (2.54 ± 0.016%) was significantly lower than microbial fuel cell (MFC) (32.58 ± 0.033%) with same bio-cathode under autotrophic conditions, which was due to the permeation of acetate on proton exchange membrane (PEM) affected the process of enriching autotrophic denitrifying bacteria by MFC. When used in heterotrophic conditions, the NRE of the closed-circuits of IFC was 29.04%, 10.53%, 8.33% higher than open-circuits, respectively, when the COD/nitrogen (C/N) ratios was 1, 2 and 3. The enhancement of IFC was the iron anode could convert a portion of nitrate to nitrite according to the abiotic cathode control experiments. The mainly functional bacteria of bio-cathode was Paracoccus (53.04%). In conclusion, the IFC could be a theoretical model for using inorganic electron donor during denitrification., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To investigate the effect of air-exposed biocathode (AEB) on the performance of single-chamber microbial fuel cell (SCMFC), wastewater quality, bioelectrochemical characteristics and the electrode biofilms were researched. It was demonstrated that exposing the biocathode to air was beneficial to nitrogen removal and current generation. In Test 1 of 95% AEB, removal rates of ammonia, total nitrogen (TN) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached 99.34%±0.11%, 99.34%±0.10% and 90.79%±0.12%, respectively. The nitrogen removal loading rates were 36.38gN/m 3 /day. Meanwhile, current density and power density obtained at 0.7A/m 3 and 104mW/m 3 respectively. Further experiments on open-circuit (Test 2) and carbon source (Test 3) indicated that this high performance could be attributed to simultaneous biological nitrification/denitrification and aerobic denitrification, as well as bioelectrochemical denitrification. Results of community analysis demonstrated that both microbial community structures on the surface of the cathode and in the liquid of the chamber were different. The percentage of Thauera, identified as denitrifying bacteria, maintained at a high level of over 50% in water, but decreased gradually in the AEB. Moreover, the genus Nitrosomonas, Alishewanella, Arcobacter and Rheinheimera were significantly enriched in the AEB, which might contribute to both enhancement of nitrogen removal and electricity generation., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The anaerobic digestion (AD) and microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) coupled system has been proved to be a promising process for biomethane production. In this paper, it was found that by co-cultivating Geobacter with Methanosarcina in an AD-MEC coupled system, methane yield was further increased by 24.1%, achieving to 360.2 mL/g-COD, which was comparable to the theoretical methane yield of an anaerobic digester. With the presence of Geobacter, the maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate (216.8 mg COD/(L·hr)) and current density (304.3A/m(3)) were both increased by 1.3 and 1.8 fold compared to the previous study without Geobacter, resulting in overall energy efficiency reaching up to 74.6%. Community analysis demonstrated that Geobacter and Methanosarcina could coexist together in the biofilm, and the electrochemical activities of both were confirmed by cyclic voltammetry. Our study observed that the carbon dioxide content in total gas generated from the AD reactor with Geobacter was only half of that generated from the same reactor without Geobacter, suggesting that Methanosarcina may obtain the electron transferred from Geobacter for the reduction of carbon dioxide to methane. Taken together, Geobacter not only can improve the performance of the MEC system, but also can enhance methane production., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

A new approach was developed to achieve autotrophic nitrogen removal from ammonium at low applied voltage in a single-compartment 3-dimensional microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The MEC consisted of anodic and cathodic electrodes, on which nitrifying and denitrifying biofilms, respectively, were attached. Nitrogen removal can be enhanced at an applied voltage in the MEC. Besides, the nitrogen removal efficiency gradually increased from 70.3% to 92.6% with the increase of applied voltage from 0.2 to 0.4V, as well as the maximum current was varied from 4.4 to 14 mA. The corresponding coulombic efficiency also increased from 82% to 94.4%, indicating that the increasing applied voltage could enhance electron extraction from ammonium during its oxidative removal. The DO was found to be a critical factor which affected the nitrogen removal in this MEC system. These results demonstrated that the MEC process was applicable to achieve autotrophic nitrogen removal from wastewater containing ammonium., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)