I-Corps: Microbial Photoelectrochemical Hybrid System for Wastewater Treatment and Hydrogen Generation

I-Corps：用于废水处理和制氢的微生物光电化学混合系统

• 批准号: 1550327
• 负责人: Yat Li
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1550327&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Microbial; Photoelectrochemical; Hybrid; System

With the drastic increase of human population, there is an ever-growing demand for energy and clean water for the continuous economic growth and suitable inhabitation on earth. Over the years, the federal government has applied distinct strategies to address these two needs separately: the municipal wastewater is collected by local wastewater plants for purification and subsequent reuse as reclaimed water, while the energy source is mainly based on natural gas, and crude oil. Apparently, these two strategies are decoupled. Million tons of wastewater are produced from industrial and agricultural operations each year, and about 25 billion US dollars are spent annually for wastewater treatment in the United States alone. Meanwhile, the use of natural gas/petroleum generates a lot of greenhouse gas and toxic chemicals, which pose a serious threat to the environment, and also leads to additional cost to treat the pollution. There is an urgent need to employ energy-efficient processes for wastewater treatment, and simultaneously recover the "wasted energy" contained as organic matters in wastewater. Microbial fuel cell technology represents a novel approach to produce bioelectricity and treat wastewater simultaneously has drawn significant attention worldwide. The key innovation of the proposed microbial photoelectrochemical device/technology is the successful demonstration of hydrogen generation (instead of bioelectricity) in a sustainable manner using sunlight and municipal wastewater as the only energy sources.The microbial photoelectrochemical cell device is a system that can remove soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) in wastewater and simultaneously recover the "wasted energy" stored in the organic wastes for photochemical generation of hydrogen gas, a chemical fuel with high energy density. This team has demonstrated the feasibility of hydrogen gas production in a lab-scale microbial photoelectrochemical device using municipal wastewater and sunlight as the sole energy sources. It represents not only a brand new approach to address the renewable energy needs for U.S., but also an emerging business opportunity for U.S.. The U.S. is among the world's largest producers of activated sludge (from wastewater). There are more than 16000 wastewater treatment facilities nationwide, and spend billions of dollars per year to treat water. A successful microbial photoelectrochemical system can efficiently convert wastewater into commercially valuable chemical fuels. The device can be readily transferred to the market place by forming partnerships or establishing collaborations with these existing microbial technology companies such as in-state municipal wastewater treatment facility, food and beverage industry, farms and water industry.

随着人口的急剧增长，对能源和清洁水的需求不断增长，以满足经济的持续增长和地球上的适宜居住。多年来，联邦政府分别采取了不同的战略来满足这两种需求：城市污水由当地污水处理厂收集，用于净化，然后作为再生水重复使用，而能源主要来自天然气和原油。显然，这两种战略是脱钩的。每年工业和农业生产产生的废水有100万吨，仅美国每年用于废水处理的费用就约为250亿美元。与此同时，天然气/石油的使用产生了大量的温室气体和有毒化学品，对环境构成了严重威胁，也导致了治理污染的额外成本。迫切需要采用节能的工艺处理废水，同时回收废水中以有机物形式存在的“浪费能量”。微生物燃料电池技术代表了一种在产生生物电能的同时处理废水的新方法，已经引起了全世界的广泛关注。提出的微生物光电化学装置/技术的关键创新是成功地以阳光和城市污水为唯一能源以可持续的方式产生氢气(而不是生物电)。微生物光电化学电池装置是一种系统，可以去除废水中可溶的化学需氧量(SCOD)，同时回收有机废物中储存的“废弃能量”，用于光化学产生氢气，氢气是一种高能量密度的化学燃料。该团队已经证明了在实验室规模的微生物光电化学装置中利用城市废水和阳光作为唯一能源生产氢气的可行性。它不仅代表着一种全新的方法来满足美国的可再生能源需求，而且也是美国美国是世界上活性污泥(来自废水)的最大生产国之一。全国有16000多个废水处理设施，每年花费数十亿美元来处理水。一个成功的微生物光电化学系统可以有效地将废水转化为具有商业价值的化学燃料。通过与这些现有的微生物技术公司建立合作伙伴关系或建立合作关系，该设备可以很容易地转移到市场上，这些公司包括州内市政污水处理设施、食品和饮料行业、农场和水务行业。