Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have garnered significant attention as a promising solution for industrial wastewater treatment, enabling the simultaneous degradation of organic compounds and biohydrogen production. Developing efficient and cost-effective cathodes to drive the hydrogen evolution...

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Autores: Guerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325, Baeza, Juan Antonio|||0000-0003-1290-1669, Guisasola, Albert|||0000-0002-3012-7964
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:292029
Acesso em linha:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/292029
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121616
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Bioelectrochemical systems
Hydrogen
Microbial electrolysis cell
Pilot scale
Wastewater treatment
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
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spelling Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plantGuerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325Baeza, Juan Antonio|||0000-0003-1290-1669Guisasola, Albert|||0000-0002-3012-7964Bioelectrochemical systemsHydrogenMicrobial electrolysis cellPilot scaleWastewater treatmentSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergyMicrobial electrolysis cells (MECs) have garnered significant attention as a promising solution for industrial wastewater treatment, enabling the simultaneous degradation of organic compounds and biohydrogen production. Developing efficient and cost-effective cathodes to drive the hydrogen evolution reaction is central to the success of MECs as a sustainable technology. While numerous lab-scale experiments have been conducted to investigate different cathode materials, the transition to pilot-scale applications remains limited, leaving the actual performance of these scaled-up cathodes largely unknown. In this study, nickel-foam and stainless-steel wool cathodes were employed as catalysts to critically assess hydrogen production in a 150 L MEC pilot plant treating sugar-based industrial wastewater. Continuous hydrogen production was achieved in the reactor for more than 80 days, with a maximum COD removal efficiency of 40 %. Nickel-foam cathodes significantly enhanced hydrogen production and energy efficiency at non-limiting substrate concentration, yielding the maximum hydrogen production ever reported at pilot-scale (19.07 ± 0.46 L H2 m-2 d-1 and 0.21 ± 0.01 m3 m-3 d-1). This is a 3.0-fold improve in hydrogen production compared to the previous stainless-steel wool cathode. On the other hand, the higher price of Ni-foam compared to stainless-steel should also be considered, which may constrain its use in real applications. By carefully analysing the energy balance of the system, this study demonstrates that MECs have the potential to be net energy producers, in addition to effectively oxidize organic matter in wastewater. While higher applied potentials led to increased energy requirements, they also resulted in enhanced hydrogen production. For our system, a conservative applied potential range from 0.9 to 1.0 V was found to be optimal. Finally, the microbial community established on the anode was found to be a syntrophic consortium of exoelectrogenic and fermentative bacteria, predominantly Geobacter and Bacteroides, which appeared to be well-suited to transform complex organic matter into hydrogen. 22024-01-0120242024-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/292029https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121616reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengAgència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2021/SGR-515open accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2920292026-06-06T12:50:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
title Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
spellingShingle Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
Guerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325
Bioelectrochemical systems
Hydrogen
Microbial electrolysis cell
Pilot scale
Wastewater treatment
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
title_short Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
title_full Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
title_fullStr Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
title_sort Enhancing bioelectrochemical hydrogen production from industrial wastewater using Ni-foam cathodes in a microbial electrolysis cell pilot plant
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Guerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325
Baeza, Juan Antonio|||0000-0003-1290-1669
Guisasola, Albert|||0000-0002-3012-7964
author Guerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325
author_facet Guerrero-Sodric, Oscar|||0000-0002-4022-6325
Baeza, Juan Antonio|||0000-0003-1290-1669
Guisasola, Albert|||0000-0002-3012-7964
author_role author
author2 Baeza, Juan Antonio|||0000-0003-1290-1669
Guisasola, Albert|||0000-0002-3012-7964
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bioelectrochemical systems
Hydrogen
Microbial electrolysis cell
Pilot scale
Wastewater treatment
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
topic Bioelectrochemical systems
Hydrogen
Microbial electrolysis cell
Pilot scale
Wastewater treatment
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
description Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have garnered significant attention as a promising solution for industrial wastewater treatment, enabling the simultaneous degradation of organic compounds and biohydrogen production. Developing efficient and cost-effective cathodes to drive the hydrogen evolution reaction is central to the success of MECs as a sustainable technology. While numerous lab-scale experiments have been conducted to investigate different cathode materials, the transition to pilot-scale applications remains limited, leaving the actual performance of these scaled-up cathodes largely unknown. In this study, nickel-foam and stainless-steel wool cathodes were employed as catalysts to critically assess hydrogen production in a 150 L MEC pilot plant treating sugar-based industrial wastewater. Continuous hydrogen production was achieved in the reactor for more than 80 days, with a maximum COD removal efficiency of 40 %. Nickel-foam cathodes significantly enhanced hydrogen production and energy efficiency at non-limiting substrate concentration, yielding the maximum hydrogen production ever reported at pilot-scale (19.07 ± 0.46 L H2 m-2 d-1 and 0.21 ± 0.01 m3 m-3 d-1). This is a 3.0-fold improve in hydrogen production compared to the previous stainless-steel wool cathode. On the other hand, the higher price of Ni-foam compared to stainless-steel should also be considered, which may constrain its use in real applications. By carefully analysing the energy balance of the system, this study demonstrates that MECs have the potential to be net energy producers, in addition to effectively oxidize organic matter in wastewater. While higher applied potentials led to increased energy requirements, they also resulted in enhanced hydrogen production. For our system, a conservative applied potential range from 0.9 to 1.0 V was found to be optimal. Finally, the microbial community established on the anode was found to be a syntrophic consortium of exoelectrogenic and fermentative bacteria, predominantly Geobacter and Bacteroides, which appeared to be well-suited to transform complex organic matter into hydrogen.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2024-01-01
2024
2024-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/292029
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121616
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/292029
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121616
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2021/SGR-515
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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