Effect of cathode environment on bioelectricity generation using a novel consortium in anode side of a microbial fuel cell

In the present study, two novel dominant genera i.e., Advenella kashmirensis and Desulfovibrio aminophilus in consortium, as confirmed by IlluminaMiSeq has been used in the anode side of a microbial fuel cell reactor to find out the influence of cathode environment on cell performance. A model terminal electron acceptor (TEA), KMnO4 at different pHs has been used in the cathode side. An oxidation peak obtained at -0.478 vs Ag/AgCI (-0.281 V vs SHE) corresponding to S-0/H2S (-0.280V vs SHE) in cyclic voltammogram confirms the complete mineralization of sulphate to biogenic elemental sulphur in accordance with the microbial community. Higher cathodic pH 10 has a detrimental effect on the cell performance as the power density is reduced to half to that for aqKMnO(4) (pH = 6.86) catholyte. Solution resistance is found to be low for aqKMnO(4)(60 ohm) and high i.e. 124.5 ohm for aqKMnO(4) with pH = 10, which corroborates to highest power density obtained for aqKMnO(4). Buffering of the catholyte provided stability to the system with lowest internal resistance of 40 ohm and comparable performance. The highest current density (25 A/m(3)) and power density (7.8 W/m(3)) is obtained with aqueous KMnO4 at pH 6.86. The developed consortium can be successfully utilized in microbial fuel cells for simultaneous electricity generation and wastewater treatment. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.