Bioenergy recovery from wastewater accelerated by solar power: Intermittent electro-driving regulation and capacitive storage in biomass

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bioenergy recovery from wastewater accelerated by solar power: Intermittent electro-driving regulation and capacitive storage in biomass

AU - Wang, Bo

AU - Liu, Wenzong

AU - Zhang, Yifeng

AU - Wang, Aijie

N1 - Funding Information: Dan Cui is kindly acknowledged for the discussion about electrochemical analysis. Xu Zhang, Yanan Hou, Yan Liu and Xiaolan Zhang are deeply appreciated for helping with biofilm viability observations and biomass analysis. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51778607), and by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2017062). Dan Cui, from National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, is kindly acknowledged for the discussion about electrochemical analysis. Xu Zhang from the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Yanan Hou from School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Yan Liu from State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco- Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xiaolan Zhang from Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, are deeply appreciated for helping with biofilm viability observations and biomass analysis. Funding Information: Dan Cui is kindly acknowledged for the discussion about electrochemical analysis. Xu Zhang, Yanan Hou, Yan Liu and Xiaolan Zhang are deeply appreciated for helping with biofilm viability observations and biomass analysis. This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51778607 ), and by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2017062 ). Dan Cui, from National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, is kindly acknowledged for the discussion about electrochemical analysis. Xu Zhang from the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Yanan Hou from School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Yan Liu from State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco- Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xiaolan Zhang from Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, are deeply appreciated for helping with biofilm viability observations and biomass analysis. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2020/5/15

Y1 - 2020/5/15

N2 - Electroactive microorganisms (EAMs) can act as pseudocapacitor to store energy and discharge electrons on need, while electromethanogens acting as receptor are able to utilize electrons, protons and carbon dioxide for methanization. However, external energy is required to overcome thermodynamical barriers for electromethanogenesis. Herein, electro-driving power by solar light was established to accelerate conversion of waste organics to bioenergy. The intermittent power supply modes were elucidated for favourable performances (e.g., current density, methane production rate, energy recovery efficiencies and economic evaluation), compared with the control driven by continuous applied voltage. It was found that natural intermittent solar-powered mode was more beneficial for microorganisms involved in electron transfer and energy recovery than manual sharp on-off mode. Electrochemistry analysis unrevealed that a higher redox current and lower resistance were exhibited under the solar-powered mode. A high charge storage capacity and electron mobility were found through cytochrome c content and live cells ratio in the solar-power assisted bioreactor. The intermittent power driving modes can regulate electron transfer proteins with capacitive storage behavior in biomass, which helps to understand the responses of functional communities on the stress of intermittent electric field. These findings indicate a promising perspective of microbial biotechnology driven by solar power to boost bioenergy recovery from waste/wastewater.

AB - Electroactive microorganisms (EAMs) can act as pseudocapacitor to store energy and discharge electrons on need, while electromethanogens acting as receptor are able to utilize electrons, protons and carbon dioxide for methanization. However, external energy is required to overcome thermodynamical barriers for electromethanogenesis. Herein, electro-driving power by solar light was established to accelerate conversion of waste organics to bioenergy. The intermittent power supply modes were elucidated for favourable performances (e.g., current density, methane production rate, energy recovery efficiencies and economic evaluation), compared with the control driven by continuous applied voltage. It was found that natural intermittent solar-powered mode was more beneficial for microorganisms involved in electron transfer and energy recovery than manual sharp on-off mode. Electrochemistry analysis unrevealed that a higher redox current and lower resistance were exhibited under the solar-powered mode. A high charge storage capacity and electron mobility were found through cytochrome c content and live cells ratio in the solar-power assisted bioreactor. The intermittent power driving modes can regulate electron transfer proteins with capacitive storage behavior in biomass, which helps to understand the responses of functional communities on the stress of intermittent electric field. These findings indicate a promising perspective of microbial biotechnology driven by solar power to boost bioenergy recovery from waste/wastewater.

KW - Bioenergy

KW - Capacitor

KW - Cytochrome c

KW - Intermittent electro-drive

KW - Solar power

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081338345&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115696

DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115696

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32179273

AN - SCOPUS:85081338345

SN - 0043-1354

VL - 175

JO - Water Research

JF - Water Research

M1 - 115696

ER -