Addition of a carbon fiber brush improves anaerobic digestion compared to external voltage application
Type
ArticleAuthors
Baek, Gahyun
Saikaly, Pascal

Logan, Bruce

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionEnvironmental Biotechnology Research Group
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
Date
2020-10-26Online Publication Date
2020-10-26Print Publication Date
2021-01Embargo End Date
2022-10-26Submitted Date
2020-09-03Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/665681
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Two methods were examined to improve methane production efficiency in anaerobic digestion (AD) based on adding a large amount of surface area using a single electrically conductive carbon brush, or by adding electrodes as done in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) to form a hybrid AD-MEC. To examine the impact of surface area relative to electrodes, AD reactors were fitted with a single large brush without electrodes (FB), half a large brush with two electrodes with an applied voltage (0.8 V) and operated in closed circuit (HB-CC) or open circuit (HB-OC) mode, or only two electrodes with a closed circuit and no large brush (NB-CC) (equivalent to an MEC). The three configurations with a half or full brush all had improved performance as shown by 57-82% higher methane generation rate parameters in the Gompertz model compared to NB-CC. The retained biomass was much higher in the reactors with large brush, which likely contributed to the rapid consumption of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and therefore improved AD performance. A different microbial community structure was formed in the large-size brushes compared to the electrodes. Methanothrix was predominant in the biofilm of large-size carbon brush, while Geobacter (anode) and Methanobacterium (cathode) were highly abundant in the electrode biofilms. These results demonstrate that adding a high surface area carbon fiber brush will be a more effective method of improving AD performance than using MEC electrodes with an applied potential.Citation
Baek, G., Saikaly, P. E., & Logan, B. E. (2020). Addition of a carbon fiber brush improves anaerobic digestion compared to external voltage application. Water Research, 116575. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2020.116575Sponsors
This research was funded by the Stan and Flora Kappe endowment and other funds through The Pennsylvania State University.Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
Water ResearchAdditional Links
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0043135420311106ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.watres.2020.116575