The influence of external resistance on the performance of microbial fuel cell and the removal of sulfamethoxazole wastewater

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising equipment for simultaneous treatment of sewage and power generation. External resistance (R-ext) plays a crucial impact in the performance of MFCs in antibiotic wastewater treatment and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) reduction. In this study, R-ext and whether to add 20 mg/L sulfamethoxazole (SMX) as variables, it was observed that the performance of several chemical properties of MFCs was optimal when R-ext was 1000 Omega. The power density before and after addition of SMX was 1220.5 +/- 24.5 mW/m(2) and 1186.2 +/- 9.2 mW/m(2), respectively; Furthermore, the degradation rate of SMX was as high as 87.52 +/- 1.97% within 48 h. High-throughput sequencing results showed that both R-ext and SMX affected the microbial community and relative abundance of the phylum and genera. Meanwhile, the MFCs with 1000 Omega Rext generated less the targeted ARGs. Experimental results showed that 1000 Omega was the most suitable R-ext for MFCs in the treatment of antibiotic wastewater.

Automated summary

The optimal performance of MFCs in treating antibiotic wastewater was observed with an R-ext of 1000 Omega, despite a slight decrease in power density after the addition of 20 mg/L of SMX. However, the degradation rate of SMX was significantly high within 48 hours.