EAGER: Exploiting carbon and nitrogen compounds for energy positive wastewater treatment

1632019古德废水处理和养分去除计划是能源密集型的。这项研究提供了一种创新的解决方案，可以集成新的微生物系统来开发能量正向的废水处理和海水淡化。这项研究的一个关键目标是利用电化学池中的微生物在一个电极(阴极)上去除氮化合物，并在另一个电极(阳极)上氧化碳化合物。这个急切的项目关注的是在阴极上使用细菌作为催化剂的可行性。如果成功，这个项目的结果可以指导电化学池的设计，同时去除废水中的污染物，淡化咸水，并产生电能。最近有报道称，各种生物电化学系统在水处理方面取得了令人鼓舞的进展。一个主要的挑战是确定生物阳极和生物催化生物膜中生物电化学过程之间的限速关系。这个急切的项目有以下目标：1)发现和建立微生物淡化单元中生物阳极和厌氧氨氧化(Anammox)生物催化工艺之间的正能量协同关系；2)评估厌氧氨氧化细菌在生物电化学单元中的性能，研究其生长动力学和脱氮能力，以将微生物学参数与环境因素和工艺性能相关联；3)为来自代表性不足群体的研究生、本科生和高中生提供研究和教育机会，并向更广泛的社区提供外联服务。该项目的变革性方面是将三级废水处理和海水淡化工艺与生物电化学原理启发的并行电力生产相结合。为了克服微生物海水淡化电池最具前景的应用所面临的主要挑战，这项研究利用Anammox Biocathode的开发，集成了强大的高通量分子测序、先进的工艺表征和电化学阻抗工具，以开发能量正的综合废水海水淡化系统。该项目在城市、农业和工业废水与海水淡化相结合的高质量废水回收方面具有更广泛的应用潜力。这个渴望的项目通过电化学、分子生物学、微生物学、环境和化学工程学科的跨学科研究活动而得到丰富，并对K-12学生产生积极影响，特别是激励他们进入STEM领域。

1632019 Gude Wastewater treatment and nutrient removal schemes are energy-intensive. This research provides an innovative solution to integrate new microbial systems to develop energy-positive wastewater treatment and desalination. A key objective of this research is to use microbes in an electrochemical cell to remove nitrogen compounds at one electrode (the cathode) and to oxidize carbon compounds at the other electrode (the anode). This EAGER project focuses on the feasibility of using bacteria as a catalyst at the cathode. If successful, the results of this project could guide the design of electrochemical cells that would simultaneously remove pollutants from wastewater, desalinate brackish water, and produce electrical energy.A wide range of encouraging advancements of various bioelectrochemical systems for water treatment have recently been reported. A major challenge is to determine the rate limiting relationships between the bioelectrochemical processes in the bioanode and biocathode biofilms. This EAGER project has the following goals: 1) Discover and establish an energy-positive synergistic relationship between bioanode and anerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) biocathode processes in microbial desalination cells; 2) Evaluate the performance of anammox bacteria in a bioelectrochemical cell and study the growth kinetics and nitrogen removal capabilities to correlate microbiological parameters with environmental factors and process performance; and 3) Provide research and education opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students from underrepresented groups and provide outreach to the broader community. The transformative aspect of this project is integrating tertiary wastewater treatment and desalination processes, coupled with concurrent electricity production inspired by bioelectrochemical principles. To overcome the major challenges for the most envisioned applications of microbial desalination cells, this research capitalizes on anammox biocathode development and integrates powerful high-throughput molecular sequencing, advanced process characterization, and electrochemical impedance tools to develop energy-positive integrated wastewater-desalination systems. This project has the potential for wider applications in reclaiming high quality effluents from municipal, agricultural and industrial wastewaters combined with desalination. This EAGER project is enriched by interdisciplinary research activities among electrochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, environmental and chemical engineering disciplines and positively impacts K-12 students, especially motivating them toward STEM fields.