Electricity generation and wastewater treatment of oil refinery in microbial fuel cells using Pseudomonas putida

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 15; no. 9; pp. 16772 - 16786
• Main Authors: Majumder, Dip, Maity, Jyoti Prakash, Tseng, Min-Jen, Nimje, Vanita Roshan, Chen, Hau-Ren, Chen, Chien-Cheng, Chang, Young-Fo, Yang, Tsui-Chu, Chen, Chen-Yen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22-09-2014; MDPI
• Subjects: air-cathode; Bioelectric Energy Sources - microbiology; Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; Chemical Industry - methods; chemical oxygen demand; Electricity; Electrodes; Equipment Design; Fuel cells; microbial fuel cell; oil refinery; Petroleum Pollution - prevention & control; Pseudomonas putida; Pseudomonas putida - physiology; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Waste materials; Waste Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Water Purification - methods; Water resources management
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms150916772

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a novel platform for treating wastewater and at the same time generating electricity. Using Pseudomonas putida (BCRC 1059), a wild-type bacterium, we demonstrated that the refinery wastewater could be treated and also generate electric current in an air-cathode chamber over four-batch cycles for 63 cumulative days. Our study indicated that the oil refinery wastewater containing 2213 mg/L (ppm) chemical oxygen demand (COD) could be used as a substrate for electricity generation in the reactor of the MFC. A maximum voltage of 355 mV was obtained with the highest power density of 0.005 mW/cm² in the third cycle with a maximum current density of 0.015 mA/cm² in regard to the external resistor of 1000 Ω. A maximum coulombic efficiency of 6 × 10⁻²% was obtained in the fourth cycle. The removal efficiency of the COD reached 30% as a function of time. Electron transfer mechanism was studied using cyclic voltammetry, which indicated the presence of a soluble electron shuttle in the reactor. Our study demonstrated that oil refinery wastewater could be used as a substrate for electricity generation.