Removal of sodium dodecyl sulphate from wastewater and its effect on anodic biofilm and performance of microbial fuel cell

This investigation demonstrates that sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) can be biodegraded efficaciously in MFC within a retention time of 12 h. The application of MFC for degradation of SDS and its corresponding effect on the power generation and organic matter removal capacity of MFC was first time quantified in this investigation. This investigation also illustrated the SDS induced microbial diversification of the anodic biofilm and correlates the same with the established SDS degradation pathway. Presence of microbial strains, such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Treponema etc., capable of degrading complex and refractory organics was identified using the next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis of the anodic biofilm. Compared to the identical control MFC, the power performance of MFC-SDS reduced by 66%. This was attributed to the inhibitory effect of SDS on the cell membrane as well as the biofilm growth. Furthermore, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and SDS removal efficiencies exhibited that the microbes preferred L-cysteine over SDS as a substrate due to higher bioavailability of the former. In spite of the preferential choice of L-cysteine over SDS and the inhibitory effect of SDS over the formation of anodic biofilm, a constant SDS removal efficiency of 70% and above was achieved.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates that sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) can be efficiently biodegraded in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) within 12 hours, but it has a negative impact on power performance. The research also shows that SDS induces changes in microbial diversity of the anodic biofilm, but microbes prefer to use L-cysteine as a substrate over SDS.