Xian Cao
Southeast University School of Energy and Environment, China
Title: Simultaneous degradation of refractory organic pesticide and bioelectricity generation in a soil microbial fuel cell with different conditions
Biography
Biography: Xian Cao
Abstract
In this study, the soil microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were constructed based on sandy soil to remove the refractory organic pesticide hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in topsoil by a simple method. The construction of membrane less single-chamber soil MFCs by setting up the cathode and the anode activated carbon, inoculating the sludge and adding the co-substrates can promote HCB removal significantly. The results showed that HCB removal efficiencies in the soils contaminated with 40 mg/kg, 80 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg were 71.14%, 62.15% and 50.06%, respectively, which were 18.65%, 18.46% and 19.17% higher than in the control, respectively. The electricity generation of soil MFCs in different HCB concentrations were analyzed. The highest power density reached 70.8 mW/m2, and an internal resistance of approximately 960Ω was obtained when an external resistance loading of 1000Ω was connected. Meanwhile, the influences of temperature, substrate species and substrate concentrations on soil MFCs initial electricity production were investigated. The temperature between 25oC and 30oC had no influence on the initial electricity production in the soil MFC while the impacts of the substrate concentration were significant. The addition of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) into the soil MFCs system contributed to the improvement of HCB removal efficiency.