TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbial Electrochemical Fluidized Bed Reactor
T2 - A Promising Solution for Removing Pollutants From Pharmaceutical Industrial Wastewater
AU - Asensio, Yeray
AU - Llorente, María
AU - Sánchez-Gómez, Alejandro
AU - Manchon, Carlos
AU - Boltes, Karina
AU - Esteve-Núñez, Abraham
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities—State Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the project MET-FLUID - Microbial electrochemical reactors based on fluid-like electrodes: a new biotech platform for performing environmental applications. Ref. RTI2018-101974-B-C-21 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE). In addition, this work was also supported by Madrid Regional Government through the project REMTAVARES. Ref: P2018/EMT-4341. ML thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education for her FPI grant (PRE2019-087607).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities—State Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Asensio, Llorente, Sánchez-Gómez, Manchon, Boltes and Esteve-Núñez.
PY - 2021/11/26
Y1 - 2021/11/26
N2 - The capacity of electroactive bacteria to exchange electrons with electroconductive materials has been explored during the last two decades as part of a new field called electromicrobiology. Such microbial metabolism has been validated to enhance the bioremediation of wastewater pollutants. In contrast with standard materials like rods, plates, or felts made of graphite, we have explored the use of an alternative strategy using a fluid-like electrode as part of a microbial electrochemical fluidized bed reactor (ME-FBR). After verifying the low adsorption capacity of the pharmaceutical pollutants on the fluid-bed electrode [7.92 ± 0.05% carbamazepine (CBZ) and 9.42 ± 0.09% sulfamethoxazole (SMX)], our system showed a remarkable capacity to outperform classical solutions for removing pollutants (more than 80%) from the pharmaceutical industry like CBZ and SMX. Moreover, the ME-FBR performance revealed the impact of selecting an anode potential by efficiently removing both pollutants at + 200 mV. The high TOC removal efficiency also demonstrated that electrostimulation of electroactive bacteria in ME-FBR could overcome the expected microbial inhibition due to the presence of CBZ and SMX. Cyclic voltammograms revealed the successful electron transfer between microbial biofilm and the fluid-like electrode bed throughout the polarization tests. Finally, Vibrio fischeri-based ecotoxicity showed a 70% reduction after treating wastewater with a fluid-like anode (+ 400 mV), revealing the promising performance of this bioelectrochemical approach.
AB - The capacity of electroactive bacteria to exchange electrons with electroconductive materials has been explored during the last two decades as part of a new field called electromicrobiology. Such microbial metabolism has been validated to enhance the bioremediation of wastewater pollutants. In contrast with standard materials like rods, plates, or felts made of graphite, we have explored the use of an alternative strategy using a fluid-like electrode as part of a microbial electrochemical fluidized bed reactor (ME-FBR). After verifying the low adsorption capacity of the pharmaceutical pollutants on the fluid-bed electrode [7.92 ± 0.05% carbamazepine (CBZ) and 9.42 ± 0.09% sulfamethoxazole (SMX)], our system showed a remarkable capacity to outperform classical solutions for removing pollutants (more than 80%) from the pharmaceutical industry like CBZ and SMX. Moreover, the ME-FBR performance revealed the impact of selecting an anode potential by efficiently removing both pollutants at + 200 mV. The high TOC removal efficiency also demonstrated that electrostimulation of electroactive bacteria in ME-FBR could overcome the expected microbial inhibition due to the presence of CBZ and SMX. Cyclic voltammograms revealed the successful electron transfer between microbial biofilm and the fluid-like electrode bed throughout the polarization tests. Finally, Vibrio fischeri-based ecotoxicity showed a 70% reduction after treating wastewater with a fluid-like anode (+ 400 mV), revealing the promising performance of this bioelectrochemical approach.
KW - electroactive bacteria
KW - emerging contaminants
KW - fluidized bed
KW - microbial electrochemical technologies
KW - pharmaceutical compounds removal
KW - wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120956359&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2021.737112
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2021.737112
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120956359
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
M1 - 737112
ER -