The current study has been undertaken to examine the beneficial effect in the power output of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) by adding cellulolytic bacteria Ruminococcus albus (R. albus) into the anodic chamber. Mediator-less H-type MFCs were set up where the anode chamber contained anaerobic digester microorganisms as inocula on finely ground pine tree (Avicel) at 2% (w/v) and the cathode chamber of 10mM phosphate buffered saline conductive solution, both separated by a cation exchange membrane. The functioning of the MFCs for generation of electrical power and the amounts of gaseous byproducts was monitored over a 9-day period. The addition of cellulolytic bacteria caused an increase of average power density from 7.9 m W/m 2 to19.5 m W/m 2 , about 245% increase over a 9-day period. For both groups of MFCs; with R. albus and the control, the head space gases collected were methane and CO 2 . While the methane: CO 2 ratios were found unchanged at 1.7:1 throughout the 9 days of operation, the total gas production increased from 248 mL to 319 mL due to the presence of R. albus addition. This study confirms that whereas the biocatalytic activity of anode microbial population determines the energy production, the addition of external cellulolytic bacteria into anode microbial population can improve and extend the biomass utilization.
Hassan, S.H., Kim, Y.S. and Oh, S.E. (2012) Power Generation from Cellulose Using Mixed and Pure Cultures of Cellulose-Degrading Bacteria in a Microbial Fuel Cell. Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 51, 269-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enzmictec.2012.07.008
Goldemberg, J. and Johansson, T.B. (2004) World Energy Assessment Overview: 2004 Update. United Nations Development Programme. New York.
Goldemberg, J. (2007) Ethanol for a Sustainable Energy Future. Science, 315, 808-810. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1137013
Saratale, G and Oh. S. (2011) Production of Thermotolerant and Alkalotolerant Cellulolytic Enzymes by Isolated Nocardiopsis sp. KNU. Biodegradation, 22, 905-919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-010-9450-0
Levin, D.B., Islam, R., Cicek, N. and Sparling, R. (2006) Hydrogen Production by Clostridium Thermocellum 27405 from Cellulosic Biomass Substrates. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 31, 1496-1503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2006.06.015
Lynd, L.R., Weimer, P.J., van Zyl, W.H. and Pretorius, I.S. (2002) Microbial Cellulose Utilization: Fundamentals and Biotechnology. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 66, 506-577. https://doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.66.3.506-577.2002
Schwarz, W.H. (2001) The Cellulosome and Cellulose Degradation by Anaerobic Bacteria. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 56, 634-649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530100710
Niessen, J., Schröder, U., Harnisch, F. and Scholz, F. (2005) Gaining Electricity from in Situ Oxidation of Hydrogen Produced by Fermentative Cellulose Degradation. Letters in Applied Microbiology, 41, 286-290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-765X.2005.01742.x
Perlack, R., Wright, L.L., Turhollow, A.F., Graham, A.F., Stokes, B.J. and Erbach, D.C. (2005) Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
Mielenz, J.R. (2001) Ethanol Production from Biomass: Technology and Commercialization Status. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 4, 324-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1369-5274(00)00211-3
Powlson, D.S., Riche, A.B. and Shield, I. (2005) Biofuels and Other Approaches for Decreasing Fossil Fuel Emissions from Agriculture. Annals of Applied Biology, 146, 193-201. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7348.2005.040056.x
Ni, M., Leung, D.Y.C., Leung, M.K.H. and Sumathy, K. (2006) An Overview of Hydrogen Production from Biomass. Fuel Processing Technology, 87, 461-472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2005.11.003
Logan, B.E. and Regan, J.M. (2006) Microbial Fuel Cells-Challenges and Applications. Environmental Science & Technology, 40, 5172-5180. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0627592
Bond, D.R. and Lovley, D.R. (2003) Electricity Production by Geobacter Sulfureducens Attached to Electrodes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 69, 1548-1555. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.69.3.1548-1555.2003
Liu, H., Cheng, S. and Logan, B.E. (2005) Production of Electricity from Acetate or Butyrate Using a Single-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell. Environmental Science & Technology, 39, 658-662. https://doi.org/10.1021/es048927c
Liu, H., Grot, S. and Logan, B.E. (2005) Electrochemically Assisted Microbial Production of Hydrogen from Acetate. Environmental Science & Technology, 39, 4317-4320. https://doi.org/10.1021/es050244p
Park, D.H. and Zeikus, J.G. (2002) Impact of Electrode Composition on Electricity Generation in a Single-Compartment Fuel Cell Using Shewanella putrefaciens. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 59, 58-61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-0972-1
Min, B., Kim, J., Oh, S., Regan, J.M. and Logan, B.E. (2005) Electricity Generation from Swine Wastewater Using Microbial Fuel Cells. Water Research, 39, 4961-4968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2005.09.039
Aelterman, P., Rabaey, K., Clauwaert, P. and Verstraete, W. (2006) Microbial Fuel Cells for Wastewater Treatment. Water Science & Technology, 54, 9-15. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2006.702
Zuo, Y., Maness, P.C. and Logan, B.E. (2006) Electricity Production from Steam-Exploded Corn Stover Biomass. Energy Fuel, 20, 1716-1721. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef060033l
Ishii, S., Suzuki, S., Norden-Krichmar, T.M., Nealson, K.H., Sekiguchi, Y. and Gorby, Y.A. (2012) Functionally Stable and Phylogenetically Diverse Microbial Enrichments from Microbial Fuel Cells during Wastewater Treatment. PLoS ONE, 7, e30495. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030495
Ren, Z., Ward, T.E. and Regan, J.M. (2007) Electricity Production from Cellulose in a Microbial Fuel Cell Using a Defined Binary Culture. Environmental Science and Technology, 41, 4781-4786. https://doi.org/10.1021/es070577h
Rezaei, F., Richard, T.L., Brennan, R.A. and Logan, B.E. (2007) Substrate-Enhanced Microbial Fuel Cells for Improved Remote Power Generation from Sediment-Based Systems. Environmental Science and Technology, 41, 4053-4058. https://doi.org/10.1021/es070426e
Rismani-Yazdi, H., Christy, A.D., Dehority, B.A., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. and Tuovinen, O.H. (2007) Electricity Generation from Cellulose by Rumen Microorganisms in Microbial Fuel Cells. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 97, 1398-1407. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.21366
Chaudhuri, S.K. and Lovley, D.R. (2003) Electricity Generation by Direct Oxidation of Glucose in Mediatorless Microbial Fuel Cells. Nature Biotechnology, 21, 1229-1232. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt867
Desvaux, M., Guedon, E. and Petitdemange, H. (2000) Cellulose Catabolism by Clostridium cellulolyticum Growing in Batch Culture on Defined Medium. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66, 2461-2470. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.66.6.2461-2470.2000
Bond, D.R., Holmes, D.E., Tender, L.M. and Lovley, D.R. (2002) Electrode-Reducing Microorganisms That Harvest Energy from Marine Sediments. Science, 295, 483-485. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1066771
Logan, B.E., Murano, C., Scott, K., Gray, N.D. and Head, I.M. (2005) Electricity Generation from Cysteine in a Microbial Fuel Cell. Water Research, 39, 942-952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2004.11.019
Higginsa, S.R., Lopeza, R.J., Pagalingb, E., Yanb, E. and Cooney, M.J. (2013) Towards a Hybrid Anaerobic Digester-Microbial Fuel Cell Integrated Energy Recovery System: An Overview of the Development of an Electrogenic Biofilm. Enzyme and Microbial Technology, 52, 344-351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enzmictec.2013.02.017
Min, B. and Logan, B.E. (2004) Continuous Electricity Generation from Domestic Wastewater and Organic Substrates in a Flat Plate Microbial Fuel Cell. Environmental Science and Technology, 38, 5809-5814. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0491026
Rabaey, K., Clauwaert, P., Aelterman, P. and Verstraete, W. (2005) Tubular Microbial Fuel Cells for Efficient Electricity Generation. Environmental Science & Technology, 39, 8077-8082. https://doi.org/10.1021/es050986i
Rubaba, O., Araki, Y., Yamamoto, S., Suzuki, K., Sakamoto, H., Matsuda, A. and Futamata, H. (2013) Electricity Producing Property and Bacterial Community Structure in Microbial Fuel Cells Equipped with Membrane Electrode Assembly. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 116, 106-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2013.01.019
Krause, D.O., Denman, S.E., Mackie, R.I. and Morrison, M. (2003) Opportunities to Improve Fiber Degradation in the Rumen: Microbiology, Ecology, and Genomics. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 27, 663-693. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-6445(03)00072-X
Fradler, K.R., Kim, J.R., Shipley, G., Massanet-Nicolau, J., Dinsdale, R.M., Guwy, A.J. and Premier, G.C. (2014) Operation of a Bioelectrochemical System as a Polishing Stage for the Effluent from a Two-Stage Biohydrogen and Biomethane Production Process. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 85, 125-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2014.02.008
Kim, T., An, J., Jang, J.K. and Chang, I.S. (2015) Coupling of Anaerobic Digester and Microbial Fuel Cell for COD Removal and Ammonia Recovery. Bioresource Technology, 195, 217-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.06.009
Premier, G.C., Kim, J.R., Massanet-Nicolau, J., Kyazze, G., Esteves, S.R.R., Penumathsa, B.K.V., Rodríguez, J., Maddy, J., Dinsdale, R.M. and Guwy, A.J. (2013) Integration of Biohydrogen, Biomethane and Bioelectrochemical Systems. Renewable Energy, 49, 188-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.01.035
Weld, R.J. and Singh, R. (2011) Functional Stability of a Hybrid Anaerobic Digester/Microbial Fuel Cell System Treating Municipal Wastewater. Bioresource Technology, 102, 842-847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.09.002
Xie, B., Liu, B., Yi, Y., Yang, L., Liang, D., Zhu, Y. and Liu, H. (2016) Microbiological Mechanism of the Improved Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal by Embedding Microbial Fuel Cell in Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic Wastewater Treatment Process. Bioresource Technology, 207, 109-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.01.090
Suen, G., Stevenson, D.M., Bruce, D.C., Chertkov, O., Copeland, A., Cheng, J.F., Detter, C., Detter, J.C., Goodwin, L.A., Han, C.S., Hauser, L.J., Ivanova, N.N., Kyrpides, N.C., Land, M.L., Lapidus, A., Lucas, S., Ovchinnikova, G., Pitluck, S., Tapia, R., Woyke, T., Boyum, J., Mead, D. and Weimer, P.J. (2011) Complete Genome of the Cellulolytic Ruminal Bacterium Ruminococcus albus 7. Journal of Bacteriology, 193, 5574-5575. https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.05621-11
Pham, T.H., Rabaey, K., Aelterman, P., Clauwaert, P., De Schamphelaire, L., Boon, N. and Verstraete, W. (2006) Microbial Fuel Cells in Relation to Conventional Anaerobic Digestion Technology. Engineering in Life Sciences, 6, 285-292. https://doi.org/10.1002/elsc.200620121
Kaur, A., Boghani, H.C., Michie, I., Dinsdale, R.M., Guwy, A.J. and Premier, G.C. (2014) Inhibition of Methane Production in Microbial Fuel Cells: Operating Strategies Which Select Electrogens over Methanogens. Bioresource Technology, 173, 75-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.09.091
Choi, S. (2015) Microscale Microbial Fuel Cells: Advances and Challenges. Biosensors Bioelectronics, 69, 8-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2015.02.021