Collaborative Research: Enhancing Bioenergy Recovery from Wastewater in an Integrated Microbial-Algal Photobioelectrochemical System

合作研究：在微生物-藻类光生物电化学集成系统中增强废水中的生物能回收

• 批准号: 1603190
• 负责人: Zhen He
• 金额: $ 18.68万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-15 至 2020-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1603190&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Enhancing; Bioenergy; Recovery

Municipal wastewater treatment processes consume significant amounts of energy. However, the organic materials fed into the waste treatment process offer the potential for energy-positive waste water treatment if this waste organic material can be converted into energy. A microbial fuel cell is a device that contains special strains of bacteria which consume organic matter in waste water as a fuel to generate electricity and help clean up the water. Although microbial fuel cells have shown promise for sustainable and energy- positive waste water treatment, their performance is low. An unconventional way to improve their performance is to integrate the microbial fuel cell device into a cultivation chamber which grows algae from sunlight. The project will investigate the synergistic aspects the combined algal-microbial fuel cell for its potential to boost electricity production, reduce operating costs by eliminating the external aeration requirement, and remove inorganic as well as organic materials from waste water. The educational activities associated with this project make use of microbial fuel cell demonstrations to stimulate interest in environmental engineering and waste water treatment topics with undergraduate students, K12 students and teachers, and the public.The overall goal of the research is to study the potentially synergistic interactions of a microbial fuel cell integrated into an algal bioreactor as a new platform for energy-positive waste water treatment. In this combined system, the algae generate oxygen which is needed by the microbial fuel cell electrode to drive aerobic micro-bioelectrochemical processes, whereas this same process generates carbon dioxide needed by the algae. This in situ source of oxygen has the potential to intensify electricity generation and eliminate the aeration requirement. The algae can also remove inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus to help further treat the waste water. The research has four objectives. The first objective is to construct a nutrient budget model based on fundamental understanding of the transformation of inorganic and organic nutrient forms within the algal-microbial fuel cell. The second objective is to examine how different algal species affect the stability of bacteria within the microbial fuel cell electrode and the algal biomass productivity. Towards this end, metagenome analysis will be used to identify metabolic functions related to different taxa which are critical to process performance. The third objective is to quantify treatment of organic materials within the algal-microbial fuel cell using mixotrophic algae. The fourth objective is to conduct system development and optimization with different configurations, including scalable systems. Through these objectives, this research seeks to gain a fundamental understanding of critical algae-bacteria interactions during nutrient uptake and electricity generation, and will also reveal the pathways of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous transformation via physical, chemical, and metabolic processes.

城市污水处理过程消耗大量能源。然而，提供给废物处理过程的有机材料提供了处理正能量废水的潜力，如果这种废弃的有机材料能够转化为能源的话。微生物燃料电池是一种含有特殊细菌菌株的装置，这些细菌将废水中的有机物作为燃料发电并帮助净化水。尽管微生物燃料电池在可持续和正能量废水处理方面显示出了希望，但它们的性能很低。一种改进其性能的非传统方法是将微生物燃料电池装置集成到培养室内，该培养室内从阳光中培养藻类。该项目将研究藻类-微生物组合燃料电池的协同作用，以期提高发电量，通过消除外部曝气要求降低运营成本，并从废水中去除无机和有机物质。与该项目相关的教育活动利用微生物燃料电池演示来激发本科生、K12学生和教师以及公众对环境工程和废水处理主题的兴趣。研究的总体目标是研究集成到藻类生物反应器中的微生物燃料电池作为正能量废水处理的新平台的潜在协同作用。在这个组合系统中，藻类产生微生物燃料电池电极驱动好氧微生物电化学过程所需的氧气，而同样的过程产生藻类所需的二氧化碳。这种就地氧气来源有可能强化发电并消除曝气要求。藻类还可以去除无机氮和磷，以帮助进一步处理废水。这项研究有四个目标。第一个目标是在对藻类-微生物燃料电池中无机和有机营养形态转化的基本了解的基础上，构建营养平衡模型。第二个目标是研究不同藻类如何影响微生物燃料电池电极内细菌的稳定性和藻类生物量生产力。为此，将使用元基因组分析来确定与不同分类群相关的代谢功能，这些功能对过程性能至关重要。第三个目标是利用混合营养藻类对藻类微生物燃料电池中的有机物质进行量化处理。第四个目标是进行不同配置的系统开发和优化，包括可扩展的系统。通过这些目标，本研究试图从根本上了解藻类和细菌在营养吸收和发电过程中的关键相互作用，并揭示通过物理、化学和代谢过程进行碳、氮和磷转化的途径。