Title | Simultaneous co-metabolic azo dye decolourisation and bio-electricity generation in microbial fuel cells |
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Authors | Fernando, E., Keshavarz, T. and Kyazze, G. |
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Type | Conference poster |
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Abstract | Azo dyes are the main contributors to toxicity and high organic load in coloured industrial wastewater. Conventional wastewater treatment technologies are ineffective with regard to treating azo dyes. Hence innovative technologies capable of removing azo dyes from large volumes of wastewater efficiently and in a timely fashion are required. The degradation of two sulfonated azo dyes acid orange 7 (AO7) and Methyl Orange (MO) through co-metabolism in the anode of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) was studied. The MFCs were inoculated with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and operated in batch mode. The degradation products were determined by HPLC. Rapid decolourisation of AO-7 and MO (<90% within 25 hours) at high dye concentrations (350 mg/L) was achieved with concomitant power production. The power density decreased with increasing dye concentration from 37 mW/m2 (AO-7 dye conc. of 70mg/L) to 18mW/m2 (AO-7 dye conc. of 350 mg/L). The maximum power density (40.4 mW/m2) was achieved with no dye in the anode compartment. The main degradation products were Sulfanilic acid, 1-amino-2-naphthol and N,N Dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine suggesting that reductive cleavage of the azo bond could contribute to decolourisation, possibly due to the action of extracellular reductase enzymes. The notable reduction of power densities at high dye concentrations indicate that a significant portion of the electrons released during microbial substrate oxidation is diverted to reducing the azo chromophore into aromatic amines. |
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Keywords | Microbial fuel cells, wastewater treatment, azo dyes |
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Year | 2012 |
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Conference | Electron transfer at the microbe-mineral interface |
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Publisher | The Biochemical Society |
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Web address (URL) | https://www.biochemistry.org/events/AllConferences/tabid/379/View/Posters/Page/1/MeetingNo/SA137/Default.aspx |
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