Phenol degradation in a single chamber microbial electrolysis cell

In this study, a single chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) using phenol as the substrate was designed to investigate the biodegradation of phenol and also electricity generation. In the MEC using phenol (120 mg/L) as the sole fuel, current was generated during phenol biodegradation with the activated sludge. Appearance of current peaks during the phenol degradation process was due to the sparging of nitrogen to the system. Therefore, these peaks were attributed to the proper mixing occurred during gas sparging which simplifies transfer of electrons accumulated in the medium to the anode and overcomes the electron transfer limitation in the system. Co-occuring with current generation, the degradation efficiency of phenol in the MEC reached about 95% within 11 days and the biodegradation rate of 0.5 mg/L.hr was obtained.

Keywords:

Mirobial electrolysis cell , single chamber , phenol , current generation , electron transfer