Conductive polyaniline nanorods enhanced methane production from anaerobic wastewater treatment

The interfacial polymerized conductive polyaniline (PANI) nanorods were firstly demonstrated to be effective on improving the methane production from the anaerobic wastewater treatment. The hydrophilic surface and high isoelectric point of PANI nanorods contributed to uniform distribution in the anaerobic sludge. The PANI nanorods demonstrated good biological affinity with the anaerobic microorganisms. The synthesized emeraldine base (EB) PANI nanorods had a conductivity of similar to 0.74 S/cm. The conductive PANI nanorods were added in the anaerobic sludge to improve the CH4 production from the wastewater treatment. The CH4 production was accelerated by similar to 2 times with a dose of 600 mg/L PANI nanorods. The conductive PANI nanorods may act as an electron aisle, promoting the direct transfer of electrons generated by the bacterial to methanogens and thus accelerate the methanogens to produce CH4 (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.