Journal ArticleDOI
Life cycle assessment of high-rate anaerobic treatment, microbial fuel cells, and microbial electrolysis cells.
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TLDR
It was showed that a microbial fuel cell does not provide a significant environmental benefit relative to the "conventional" anaerobic treatment option, but a microbial electrolysis cell provides significant environmental benefits through the displacement of chemical production by conventional means.Abstract:
Existing wastewater treatment options are generally perceived as energy intensive and environmentally unfriendly. Much attention has been focused on two new approaches in the past years, (i) microbial fuel cells and (ii) microbial electrolysis cells, which directly generate electrical current or chemical products, respectively, during wastewater treatment. These systems are commonly denominated as bioelectrochemical systems, and a multitude of claims have been made in the past regarding the environmental impact of these treatment options. However, an in-depth study backing these claims has not been performed. Here, we have conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare the environmental impact of three industrial wastewater treatment options, (i) anaerobic treatment with biogas generation, (ii) a microbial fuel cell treatment, with direct electricity generation, and (iii) a microbial electrolysis cell, with hydrogen peroxide production. Our analysis showed that a microbial fuel cell does not provide a significant environmental benefit relative to the "conventional" anaerobic treatment option. However, a microbial electrolysis cell provides significant environmental benefits through the displacement of chemical production by conventional means. Provided that the target conversion level of 1000 A.m(-3) can be met, the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmentally harmful emissions (e.g., aromatic hydrocarbons) of the microbial electrolysis cell will be a key driver for the development of an industrial standard for this technology. Evidently, this assessment is highly dependent on the underlying assumptions, such as the used reactor materials and target performance. This provides a challenge and an opportunity for researchers in the field to select and develop appropriate and environmentally benign materials of construction, as well as demonstrate the required 1000 A.m(-3) performance at pilot and full scale.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Conversion of wastes into bioelectricity and chemicals by using microbial electrochemical technologies.
Bruce E. Logan,Korneel Rabaey +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the key advances that will enable the use of exoelectrogenic microorganisms to generate biofuels, hydrogen gas, methane, and other valuable inorganic and organic chemicals are reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial electrosynthesis — revisiting the electrical route for microbial production
Korneel Rabaey,René A. Rozendal +1 more
TL;DR: This Review addresses the principles, challenges and opportunities of microbial electrosynthesis, an exciting new discipline at the nexus of microbiology and electrochemistry.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial fuel cells: From fundamentals to applications. A review
TL;DR: The development of the concept of microbial fuel cell into a wider range of derivative technologies, called bioelectrochemical systems, is described, introducing briefly microbial electrolysis cells, microbial desalination cells and microbial electrosynthesis cells.
Journal ArticleDOI
Towards sustainable wastewater treatment by using microbial fuel cells-centered technologies
Wen-Wei Li,Han-Qing Yu,Zhen He +2 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed integration of MFCs with other treatment technologies to form an MFC-centered treatment scheme based on thoroughly analyzing the challenges and opportunities, and discuss future efforts to be made for realizing sustainable wastewater treatment.
Journal ArticleDOI
Waste to bioproduct conversion with undefined mixed cultures: the carboxylate platform
TL;DR: To develop the carboxylate platform into an important system within biorefineries, it must understand the kinetic and thermodynamic possibilities of anaerobic pathways, understand the ecological principles underlying pathway alternatives, and develop superior separation technologies.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial Fuel Cells: Methodology and Technology†
Bruce E. Logan,Bert Hamelers,René A. Rozendal,Uwe Schröder,Jurg Keller,Stefano Freguia,P. Aelterman,Willy Verstraete,Korneel Rabaey +8 more
TL;DR: A review of the different materials and methods used to construct MFCs, techniques used to analyze system performance, and recommendations on what information to include in MFC studies and the most useful ways to present results are provided.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation
Korneel Rabaey,Willy Verstraete +1 more
TL;DR: How bacteria use an anode as an electron acceptor and to what extent they generate electrical output is discussed and the MFC technology is evaluated relative to current alternatives for energy generation.
Journal ArticleDOI
IMPACT 2002+: A new life cycle impact assessment methodology
Olivier Jolliet,Manuele Margni,Raphaël Charles,Sebastien Humbert,Jérôme Payet,Gerald Rebitzer,Ralph K. Rosenbaum +6 more
TL;DR: The IMPACT 2002+ method as mentioned in this paper proposes a feasible implementation of a combined midpoint/damage approach, linking all types of life cycle inventory results (elementary flows and other interventions) via 14 midpoint categories to four damage categories.
Journal ArticleDOI
Towards practical implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment.
René A. Rozendal,René A. Rozendal,Hubertus V.M. Hamelers,Korneel Rabaey,Jurg Keller,Cees J.N. Buisman +5 more
TL;DR: These challenges are identified, an overview of their implications for the feasibility of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment is provided and the opportunities for future BESs are explored.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrochemically Assisted Microbial Production of Hydrogen from Acetate
TL;DR: By augmenting the electrochemical potential achieved by bacteria in this MFC with an additional voltage of 250 mV or more, it was possible to produce hydrogen at the cathode directly from the oxidized organic matter.