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Research article
Improved Electricity Generation by a Microbial Fuel Cell after Pretreatment of Ammonium and Nitrate in Livestock Wastewater with Microbubbles and a Catalyst
Energy and Environmental Engineering Division, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54875, Republic of Korea
J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2016; 26(11): 1965-1971
Published November 28, 2016 https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.1608.08041
Copyright © The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology.
Abstract
Keywords
References
- Agarwal A, Ng WJ, L iu Y . 2011. Principle and applications of microbubble and nanobubble technology for water treatment. Chemosphere 84: 1175-1180.
- Angenent L, Karim K, Al-Dahhan MH, Wrenn BA, Domiguez-Espinosa R. 2004. Production of bioenergy and biochemicals from industrial and agricultural wastewater. Trends Biotechnol. 22: 477-485.
- Boopathy R. 1998. Biological treatment of swine waste using anaerobic baffled reactors. Bioresour. Technol. 64: 1-6.
- Gil GC, Chang IS, Kim BH, Kim M, Jang JK, Park HS, Kim HJ. 2003. Operational parameters affecting the performance of a mediator-less microbial fuel cell. Biosens. Bioelectron. 18:327-324.
- He Z, Kan J, Wang Y, Huang Y, Mansfeld F, Nealson KH. 2009. Electricity production coupled to ammonium in a microbial fuel cell. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43: 3391-3397.
- Jang JK, Chang IS, Moon H, Kang KH, Kim BH. 2006. Nitrilotriacetic acid degradation under microbial fuel cell environment. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 95: 772-774.
- Jang JK, Choi JE, Ryou YS, Lee SH, Lee EY. 2012. Effect of ammonium and nitrate on current generation using dualcathode microbial fuel cell. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 22: 270-273.
- Jang JK, Pham TH, Chang IS, Kang KH, Moon H, Cho KS, Kim BH. 2004. Construction and operation of a novel mediator- and membrane-less microbial fuel cell. Process Biochem. 39: 1007-1012.
- Jang JK, Sung JH, Kang YK, Kim YH. 2015. The effect of the reaction time increases of microbubbles with catalyst on the nitrogen reduction of livestock wastewater. J. Korean Soc. Environ. Eng. 37: 578-582.
- Kim J, Chen M, Kishida N, Sudo R. 2004. Integrated realtime control strategy for nitrogen removal in swine wastewater treatment using sequencing batch reactors. Water Res. 38:3340-3348.
- Kishida N, Kim J, Chen M, Sasaki H, Sudo R. 2003. Effectiveness of oxidation–reduction potential and pH as monitoring and control parameters for nitrogen removal in swine wastewater treatment by sequencing batch reactors. J. Biosci. Bioeng. 96: 285-290.
- Kudryashov SV, Ryabov AY, Ochered’ko AN, Krivtsova KB, Shchyogoleva GS. 2015. Removal of hydrogen sulfide from methane in a barrier discharge. Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 35: 201-215.
- Lee D. 2003. Removal of aqueous ammonia to molecular nitrogen by catalytic wet oxidation. Kor. Soc. Environ. Eng. 25: 889-897.
- Lee I, Lee E, Lee H, Lee K. 2011. Removal of COD and color from anaerobic digestion effluent of livestock wastewater by advanced oxidation using microbubble ozone. Appl. Chem. Eng. 22: 617-622.
- Lee J, J in B , Cho S, J ung K, H an S . 2002. Advanced w et oxidation of Fe/MgO: catalystic ozonation of humic acid and phenol. Theor. Appl. Chem. Eng. 8: 4573-4575.
- Logan BE, Hamelers B, Rozendal R, Schroder U, Keller J, Freguia S, et al. 2006. Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40: 5181-5192.
- Lovley DR. 2006. Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms. Nature 4: 497-508.
- Marui T. 2013. An introduction to micro/nano-bubbles and their applications. Syst. Cybern. Inform. 11: 68-73.
- Min B, Kim JR, Oh S, Regan JM, Logan BE. 2005. Electricity generation from swine wastewater using microbial fuel cells. Water Res. 39: 4961-4968.
- Nam JY, Kim HW, Shin HS. 2010. Ammonia inhibition of electricity generation in single-chambed microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources 195: 6428-6433.
- Rabaey K, Verstraete W. 2005. Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation. Trends Biotechnol. 23:291-298.
- Rajagopal R, Massé D I, S ingh G . 2013. A c ritical review on inhibition of anaerobic digestion process by excess ammonia. Bioresour. Technol. 143: 632-641.
- Ravaey K, Lissens G, Siciliano SD, Verstraete W. 2003. A microbial fuel cell capable of converting glucose to electricity at high rate and efficiency. Biotechnol. Lett. 25: 1531-1535.
- Shin J , Lee S, Jung J, Chung Y, Noh S. 2005. Enhanced COD and nitrogen removal for the treatment of swine wastewater by combining submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) and anaerobic upflow bed filter (AUBF) reactor. Process Biochem. 40: 3769-3776.
- Takahashi M, Chiba K, Li P. 2007. Free-radical generation from collapsing microbubbles in the absence of a dynamic stimulus. J. Phys. Chem. B 111: 1343-1347.
- Terasaka K, Hirabayashi A, Nishino T, Fujioka S, Kobayashi D. 2011. Development of microbubble aerator for waste water treatment using aerobic activated sludge. Chem. Eng. Sci. 66: 3172-3179.
- Wagner RC, Regan JM, Oh S, Zuo Y, Logan BE. 2009. Hydrogen and methane production from swine wastewater using microbial electrolysis cells. Water Res. 43: 1480-1488.
Related articles in JMB

Article
Research article
J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2016; 26(11): 1965-1971
Published online November 28, 2016 https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.1608.08041
Copyright © The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology.
Improved Electricity Generation by a Microbial Fuel Cell after Pretreatment of Ammonium and Nitrate in Livestock Wastewater with Microbubbles and a Catalyst
Jae Kyung Jang 1*, Taeyoung Kim 1, Sukwon Kang 1, Je Hoon Sung 1, Youn Koo Kang 1 and Young Hwa Kim 1
Energy and Environmental Engineering Division, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju 54875, Republic of Korea
Abstract
Livestock wastewater containing high concentrations of ammonium and nitrate ions was
pretreated with microbubbles and an Fe/MgO catalyst prior to its application in microbial fuel
cells because high ion concentrations can interfere with current generation. Therefore, tests
were designed to ascertain the effect of pretreatment on current generation. In initial tests, the
optimal amount of catalyst was found to be 300 g/l. When 1,000 ml/min O2 was used as the
oxidant, the removal of ammonium- and nitrate-nitrogen was highest. After the operating
parameters were optimized, the removal of ammonium and nitrate ions was quantified. The
maximum ammonium removal was 32.8%, and nitrate was removed by up to 75.8% at a 500 g/l
catalyst concentration over the course of the 2 h reaction time. The current was about 0.5 mA
when livestock wastewater was used without pretreatment, whereas the current increased to
2.14 ± 0.08 mA when livestock wastewater was pretreated with the method described above.
This finding demonstrates that a 4-fold increase in the current can be achieved when using
pretreated livestock wastewater. The maximum power density and current density
performance were 10.3 W/m3 and 67.5 A/m3, respectively, during the evaluation of the
microbial fuel cells driven by pretreated livestock wastewater.
Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, Livestock wastewater, Electricity generation, Microbubble, Catalyst, Ammonium
References
- Agarwal A, Ng WJ, L iu Y . 2011. Principle and applications of microbubble and nanobubble technology for water treatment. Chemosphere 84: 1175-1180.
- Angenent L, Karim K, Al-Dahhan MH, Wrenn BA, Domiguez-Espinosa R. 2004. Production of bioenergy and biochemicals from industrial and agricultural wastewater. Trends Biotechnol. 22: 477-485.
- Boopathy R. 1998. Biological treatment of swine waste using anaerobic baffled reactors. Bioresour. Technol. 64: 1-6.
- Gil GC, Chang IS, Kim BH, Kim M, Jang JK, Park HS, Kim HJ. 2003. Operational parameters affecting the performance of a mediator-less microbial fuel cell. Biosens. Bioelectron. 18:327-324.
- He Z, Kan J, Wang Y, Huang Y, Mansfeld F, Nealson KH. 2009. Electricity production coupled to ammonium in a microbial fuel cell. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43: 3391-3397.
- Jang JK, Chang IS, Moon H, Kang KH, Kim BH. 2006. Nitrilotriacetic acid degradation under microbial fuel cell environment. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 95: 772-774.
- Jang JK, Choi JE, Ryou YS, Lee SH, Lee EY. 2012. Effect of ammonium and nitrate on current generation using dualcathode microbial fuel cell. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 22: 270-273.
- Jang JK, Pham TH, Chang IS, Kang KH, Moon H, Cho KS, Kim BH. 2004. Construction and operation of a novel mediator- and membrane-less microbial fuel cell. Process Biochem. 39: 1007-1012.
- Jang JK, Sung JH, Kang YK, Kim YH. 2015. The effect of the reaction time increases of microbubbles with catalyst on the nitrogen reduction of livestock wastewater. J. Korean Soc. Environ. Eng. 37: 578-582.
- Kim J, Chen M, Kishida N, Sudo R. 2004. Integrated realtime control strategy for nitrogen removal in swine wastewater treatment using sequencing batch reactors. Water Res. 38:3340-3348.
- Kishida N, Kim J, Chen M, Sasaki H, Sudo R. 2003. Effectiveness of oxidation–reduction potential and pH as monitoring and control parameters for nitrogen removal in swine wastewater treatment by sequencing batch reactors. J. Biosci. Bioeng. 96: 285-290.
- Kudryashov SV, Ryabov AY, Ochered’ko AN, Krivtsova KB, Shchyogoleva GS. 2015. Removal of hydrogen sulfide from methane in a barrier discharge. Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 35: 201-215.
- Lee D. 2003. Removal of aqueous ammonia to molecular nitrogen by catalytic wet oxidation. Kor. Soc. Environ. Eng. 25: 889-897.
- Lee I, Lee E, Lee H, Lee K. 2011. Removal of COD and color from anaerobic digestion effluent of livestock wastewater by advanced oxidation using microbubble ozone. Appl. Chem. Eng. 22: 617-622.
- Lee J, J in B , Cho S, J ung K, H an S . 2002. Advanced w et oxidation of Fe/MgO: catalystic ozonation of humic acid and phenol. Theor. Appl. Chem. Eng. 8: 4573-4575.
- Logan BE, Hamelers B, Rozendal R, Schroder U, Keller J, Freguia S, et al. 2006. Microbial fuel cells: methodology and technology. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40: 5181-5192.
- Lovley DR. 2006. Bug juice: harvesting electricity with microorganisms. Nature 4: 497-508.
- Marui T. 2013. An introduction to micro/nano-bubbles and their applications. Syst. Cybern. Inform. 11: 68-73.
- Min B, Kim JR, Oh S, Regan JM, Logan BE. 2005. Electricity generation from swine wastewater using microbial fuel cells. Water Res. 39: 4961-4968.
- Nam JY, Kim HW, Shin HS. 2010. Ammonia inhibition of electricity generation in single-chambed microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources 195: 6428-6433.
- Rabaey K, Verstraete W. 2005. Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation. Trends Biotechnol. 23:291-298.
- Rajagopal R, Massé D I, S ingh G . 2013. A c ritical review on inhibition of anaerobic digestion process by excess ammonia. Bioresour. Technol. 143: 632-641.
- Ravaey K, Lissens G, Siciliano SD, Verstraete W. 2003. A microbial fuel cell capable of converting glucose to electricity at high rate and efficiency. Biotechnol. Lett. 25: 1531-1535.
- Shin J , Lee S, Jung J, Chung Y, Noh S. 2005. Enhanced COD and nitrogen removal for the treatment of swine wastewater by combining submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) and anaerobic upflow bed filter (AUBF) reactor. Process Biochem. 40: 3769-3776.
- Takahashi M, Chiba K, Li P. 2007. Free-radical generation from collapsing microbubbles in the absence of a dynamic stimulus. J. Phys. Chem. B 111: 1343-1347.
- Terasaka K, Hirabayashi A, Nishino T, Fujioka S, Kobayashi D. 2011. Development of microbubble aerator for waste water treatment using aerobic activated sludge. Chem. Eng. Sci. 66: 3172-3179.
- Wagner RC, Regan JM, Oh S, Zuo Y, Logan BE. 2009. Hydrogen and methane production from swine wastewater using microbial electrolysis cells. Water Res. 43: 1480-1488.