Robert D. Crapnell, Cristiane Kalinke, Luiz Ricardo G. Silva et al.

Materials Today • 2023

Additive manufacturing represents a state-of-the-art technology that has been extensively disseminated in both the academic and industrial sectors. This technology enables the cost-effective, simple, and automated production of objects with diverse designs. Moreover, within the academic community, additive manufacturing has provided genuine scientific revolutions, particularly in the field of electrochemistry, due to the accessibility of the Fused Filament Fabrication printing methodology, which utilizes thermoplastic filaments for electrochemical platforms. Additive manufacturing has facilitated the production of conductive components for various applications, including electrochemical sensors, batteries, supercapacitors, and electrical circuits. Within recent years, the scientific community has taken an interest in bespoke filaments that are doped with highly conductive particles, which can be optimized and tailored enabling groups to produce a wide range of filaments with uncountable applications. Thus, the present review article explores the distinct methods of bespoke filament manufacturing, emphasizing its significance in the scientific landscape, and investigating the principal materials utilised in its production, such as thermoplastics, plasticizers, and conductive substances, focusing on electrochemistry applications. Furthermore, all reported additive manufacturing methods will be thoroughly discussed, along with their main advantages and disadvantages. Last, future perspectives will be addressed to guide novel advancements and applications of bespoke filaments for use within electrochemistry.

Tianlei Wang, Arunabhiram Chutia, Dan J. L. Brett et al.

Energy & Environmental Science • 2021

This review provides an overview on Pd-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) through the scientometric analysis and critical review methods. The main focus is on activity regulation and synthetic methods.

Bhavya Padha, Sonali Verma, Prerna Mahajan et al.

Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology • 2022

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a unique non-destructive technique employed to analyze various devices in different energy storage applications. It characterizes materials and interfaces for their properties in heterogeneous systems employing equivalent circuits as models. So far, it has been used to analyze the performance of various photovoltaic cells, fuel cells, batteries, and other energy storage devices, through equivalent circuit designing. This review highlights the diverse applications of EIS in fuel cells and specific parameters affecting its performance. A particular emphasis has been laid on the challenges faced by this technique and their possible solutions.

Xin Li, Mahshid Ahmadi, Liam Collins et al.

Electrochimica Acta • 2019

Samuel J. Cobb, Zoë J. Ayres, Julie V. Macpherson

Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry • 2018

Boron doped diamond (BDD) is continuing to find numerous electrochemical applications across a diverse range of fields due to its unique properties, such as having a wide solvent window, low capacitance, and reduced resistance to fouling and mechanical robustness. In this review, we showcase the latest developments in the BDD electrochemical field. These are driven by a greater understanding of the relationship between material (surface) properties, required electrochemical performance, and improvements in synthetic growth/fabrication procedures, including material postprocessing. This has resulted in the production of BDD structures with the required function and geometry for the application of interest, making BDD a truly designer material. Current research areas range from in vivo bioelectrochemistry and neuronal/retinal stimulation to improved electroanalysis, advanced oxidation processes, supercapacitors, and the development of hybrid electrochemical-spectroscopic- and temperature-based technology aimed at enhancing electrochemical performance and understanding.

Maxime Van Haeverbeke, Michiel Stock, Bernard De Baets

IEEE Access • 2022

When studying electrochemical systems, EIS practitioners face the challenge of choosing a relevant equivalent electrical circuit to analyze their measurement data and interpreting the role of its components. In this review, we take a closer look at the use of equivalent electrical circuits (EEC) across various application domains.We aim to aid EIS practitioners in determining and evaluating their EEC-based data analysis methodology in light of recent progress from all EIS application domains. We review EEC usage and its interpretation while additionally providing software to automatically search for equivalent electrical circuits from the relevant application domain literature that fit EIS measurements supplied by users. Finally, we make a comparison of the impedimetric behaviour and circuit modelling approaches of a range of different electrochemical systems and discuss some complementary EIS data analysis strategies.

Qingming Deng, Jiong Zhao, Tiantian Wu et al.

Journal of Catalysis • 2019

Simelys Hernández, M. Amin Farkhondehfal, Francesc Sastre et al.

Green Chemistry • 2017

The opportunities and challenges for exploiting the production of syngas from the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 are critically reviewed and analysed.

Hrvoje Mikulčić, Iva Ridjan Skov, Dominik Franjo Dominković et al.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews • 2019

Future 100% renewable energy systems will have to integrate different sectors, including provision of power, heating, cooling and transport. Such energy systems will be needed to mitigate the negative impacts of economic development based on the use of fossil fuels, but will rely on variable renewable energy resources. As two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to fossil fuel combustion, decarbonization of energy systems is imperative for combating the climate change. Integrating future energy systems with CO2 capture and utilization technologies can contribute to deep decarbonization. As these technologies can be operated flexibly, they can be used to balance the grid to allow for high levels of variable renewable energy in the power mix. The captured CO2 can be either utilized as a feedstock for various value-added applications in the chemical industry and related sectors such as the food and beverage industries. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art literature on CO2 capture and utilization technologies, with an emphasis on their potential integration into a low-carbon, high-renewables penetration grid. The potential market size for CO2 as raw material is also elaborated and discussed. The review paper provides an insight to the development and the technological needs of different energy system sectors, as well the limitations, challenges and research gaps to the integration of the variable renewable energy sources and flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies.

Monica Brachi, Wassim El Housseini, Kevin Beaver et al.

ACS Organic & Inorganic Au • 2023

Electrosynthesis is a popular, environmentally friendly substitute for conventional organic methods. It involves using charge transfer to stimulate chemical reactions through the application of a potential or current between two electrodes. In addition to electrode materials and the type of reactor employed, the strategies for controlling potential and current have an impact on the yields, product distribution, and reaction mechanism. In this Review, recent advances related to electroanalysis applied in electrosynthesis were discussed. The first part of this study acts as a guide that emphasizes the foundations of electrosynthesis. These essentials include instrumentation, electrode selection, cell design, and electrosynthesis methodologies. Then, advances in electroanalytical techniques applied in organic, enzymatic, and microbial electrosynthesis are illustrated with specific cases studied in recent literature. To conclude, a discussion of future possibilities that intend to advance the academic and industrial areas is presented.

Narcís Pous, M. Dolors Balaguer, Silvio Matassa et al.

Bioresource Technology Reports • 2022

Hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOBs) are prime candidates for the sustainable production of microbial protein because of their high nutritional value and simple metabolic requirements, which could allow a simple resource recycling of NH4+ and CO2 into a valuable product. The modality of hydrogen production/supply to HOBs represents a challenge. In this work, bioelectrochemical hydrogen and oxygen productions were coupled with HOBs cultivation in the same reactor. Using this approach, the protein content was 59 ± 8% with Hydrogenophaga and Xanthobacter as the most abundant HOBs. Biomass concentration was found to be dependent of the current density with bulk liquid biomass increasing between 101 and 124 mg TSS·L−1 for an increase of 0.1 mA·cm−2. Electrodes directly immersed in the bioreactor promoted biofilm formation on the electrode surface, which could become an attractive alternative for biomass harvesting. The results of this work establish a novel proof-of-concept for bio-electro production of microbial protein.

Li Li, Wenxin Shi, Shuili Yu

Water • 2019

Forward osmosis (FO) has become an evolving membrane separation technology to recover water due to its strong retention capacity, sustainable membrane fouling, etc. Although a good deal of research has been extensively investigated in the past decades, major challenges still remain as follows: (1) the novel FO membrane material properties, which significantly influence the fouling of the FO membranes, the intolerance reverse solute flux (RSF), the high concentration polarization (CP), and the low permeate flux; (2) novel draw solution preparation and utilization; (3) salinity build-up in the FO system; (4) the successful implementation of the FO process. This work critically reviews the last five years’ literature in development of the novel FO membrane material, structure in modification, and preparation, including comparison and analysis on the traditional and novel draw solutes coupled with their effects on FO performance; application in wastewater treatment, especially hybrid system and integrated FO system; fouling mechanism; and cleaning strategy as discussed in the literature. The current barriers of the research results in each hotspot and the areas that can be improved are also analyzed in detail. The research hotspots in the research and development of the novel membrane materials in various countries and regions have been compared in recent years, and the work of variation in pop research hotspots in the past 10 years has been analyzed and the ideas that fill the blank gaps also have been proposed.

Arwa Abdulkreem AL‐Huqail, Vinod Kumar, Rohit Kumar et al.

Sustainability • 2022

Food waste has become a challenging global issue due to its inefficient management, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Among food waste items, fruit peel waste (FPW) is generated in enormous quantities, especially from juice vendors, resulting in arduous tasks for waste management personnel and authorities. However, considering the nutrient and digestible content of organic wastes, in this study four types of FPW (pineapple: PA; sweet lemon: SL; kinnow: KN; and pomegranate: PG) were investigated for their potential use within biogas production, using conventional and electro-assisted anaerobic reactors (CAR and EAR). In addition, the FPW digestate obtained after the biogas production experiments was considered as a soil bio-fertilizer under radish (Raphanussativus L. cv. Pusa Himani) cultivation. In the results, all four types of FPW had digestible organic fractions, as revealed from physicochemical and proximate analysis. However, PA-based FPW yielded the maximum biogas (1422.76 ± 3.10 mL/62.21 ± 0.13% CH4) using the EAR system, compared to all other FPW. Overall, the decreasing order of biogas yield obtained from FPW was observed as PA > PG > SL > KN. The kinetic analysis of the biogas production process showed that the modified Gompertz model best fitted in terms of coefficient of determination (R2 > 0.99) to predict cumulative biogas production (y), lag phase (λ), and specific biogas production rate (µm). Moreover, fertilizer application of spent FPW digestate obtained after biogas production significantly improved the arable soil properties (p < 0.05). Further, KN-based FPW digestate mixing showed maximum improvement in radish plant height (36.50 ± 0.82 cm), plant spread (70.80 ± 3.79 cm2), number of leaves (16.12 ± 0.05), fresh weight of leaves (158.08 ± 2.85 g/plant), fruit yield (140.10 ± 2.13 g/plant), and fruit length (25.05 ± 0.15 cm). Thus, this study suggests an efficient method of FPW management through biogas and crop production.

Amin Arvin, Morteza Hosseini, Mohammad Mehdi Amin et al.

Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering • 2019

Thomas Krieg, Jeffery A. Wood, Klaus‐Michael Mangold et al.

Biochemical Engineering Journal • 2018

Mariana Ferdeș, Bianca Ștefania Zăbavă, G. Paraschiv et al.

Energies • 2022

In the context of increasing pressure regarding the sustainable utilization of food waste in a circular economy, one of the trends is their biological transformation, through anaerobic digestion, into biogas as a renewable source of energy. We presented the physical-chemical properties of the main categories of food waste from different sources: dairy, meat, and poultry, fish, fruit and vegetable, cereal and bakery, brewing and winery industries, and others. Due to the high organic load, the presence of a multitude of nutrients, and an insignificant amount of inhibitors, food waste can be successfully used in the biogas production process in co-digestion with other materials. Physical (mechanical and thermal), chemical (alkali, acid, and oxidative), and biological (enzymatic, bacterial, and fungal) techniques have been widely used for pretreatment of different substrate types, including food waste. These pretreatments facilitate the degradation of pretreated food waste during anaerobic digestion and thus lead to an enhancement in biogas production. The purpose of this study is to review the situation of food waste generated in the food industry and to formulate the main trends of progress in the use of this waste in the anaerobic digestion process.

Anna Gielnik, Yoan Péchaud, David Huguenot et al.

Journal of Environmental Management • 2020

Ala’a Ragab, Krishna P. Katuri, Muhammad Ali et al.

Frontiers in Microbiology • 2019

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) has been gaining considerable interest as the next step in the evolution of microbial electrochemical technologies. Understanding the niche biocathode environment and microbial community is critical for further developing this technology as the biocathode is key to product formation and efficiency. MES is generally operated to enrich a specific functional group (e.g., methanogens or homoacetogens) from a mixed-culture inoculum. However, due to differences in H 2 and CO 2 availability across the cathode surface, competition and syntrophy may lead to overall variability and significant beta-diversity within and between replicate reactors, which can affect performance reproducibility. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the distribution and potential spatial variability of the microbial communities in MES methanogenic biocathodes. Triplicate methanogenic biocathodes were enriched in microbial electrolysis cells for 5 months at an applied voltage of 0.7 V. They were then transferred to triplicate dual-chambered MES reactors and operated at -1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl for six batches. At the end of the experiment, triplicate samples were taken at different positions (top, center, bottom) from each biocathode for a total of nine samples for total biomass protein analysis and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Microbial community analyses showed that the biocathodes were highly enriched with methanogens, especially the hydrogenotrophic methanogen family Methanobacteriaceae, Methanobacterium sp., and the mixotrophic Methanosarcina sp., with an overall core community representing > 97% of sequence reads in all samples. There was no statistically significant spatial variability ( p > 0.05) observed in the distribution of these communities within and between the reactors. These results suggest deterministic community assembly and indicate the reproducibility of electromethanogenic biocathode communities, with implications for larger-scale reactors.

Georgia Gatidou, Charis G. Samanides, Michail S. Fountoulakis et al.

Chemosphere • 2022

In the current study, treatment of undiluted real bilge water (BW) and the production of methane was examined for the first time using a membraneless single chamber Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC) with Anaerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) for its biodegradation. Initially, Anaerobic Toxicity Assays (ATAs) were used to evaluate the effect of undiluted real BW on the methanogenic activity of AGS. According to the results, BW shown higher impact to acetoclastics compared to hydrogenotrophic methanogens which proved to be more tolerant. However, dilution of BW caused lower inhibition allowing BW biodegradation. Maximum methane production (142.2 ± 4.8 mL) was observed at 50% of BW. Operation of MEC coupled with AGS, seemed to be very promising technology for BW treatment. During 80 days of operation in increasing levels of BW, R2 (1 V) reactor resulted in better performance than AGS alone. Exposure of AGS to gradual increase of BW content revealed that CH 4 production was possible and reached 51% in five days even after feeding with 90% of BW using simple commercial iron electrodes. Successful chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) removal (up to 70%) was observed after gradual biomass acclimatization. Among the different monitored volatile fatty acids (VFAs), acetic and valeric acids were the most frequently detected compounds with concentrations up to 2.79 and 1.81 g L -1 , respectively. The recalcitrant nature of BW did not allow the MEC-AD (anaerobic digester) to balance the consumed energy. Microbial profile analysis confirmed the existence of several methanogenic microorganisms of which Desulfovibrio and Methanobacterium presented significantly higher abundance in the cathodes compared to anodes and AGS.

Pierre Champigneux, Cyril Renault-Sentenac, David Bourrier et al.

Bioelectrochemistry • 2019

Anna Gielnik, Yoan Péchaud, David Huguenot et al.

The Science of The Total Environment • 2019

Abdulmoseen Segun Giwa, Heng Xu, Fengmin Chang et al.

Energy Science & Engineering • 2019

Abstract Food waste (FW) is a severe environmental problem all over the world, and the recalcitrant organic residues (ROR) from FW treatment plant operations are also a critical environmental issue due to unsustainable treatment and disposal techniques. Requirements for FW and ROR complete exploitation with the establishment of recycling‐renewable technologies are very crucial. This paper review AD and pyrolysis as two promising technologies to degrade FW and its residues, creating numerous renewable bioenergy yields with value‐added. Existing oil/tar application methods in the AD suffered from various problems such as microorganism toxicity and limited productivity. Future upgrading techniques considering the second‐stage pyrolysis process to decompose oil/tars for syngas with high hydrogen content and enhanced bio‐methanation in the AD were addressed. Simultaneous pyrolysis by‐product recycle in the AD during the valorization of FW are aimed to have the features of sustainability toward increased bioenergy production, reactor efficiency, and agricultural application.

Marco Zeppilli, Davide Pavesi, Marco Gottardo et al.

Chemical Engineering Journal • 2017

Amir Mirshafiee, Mohammad Nourollahi, Alireza Shahriary

Scientific Reports • 2024

Petrochemicals require a large volume of water for their operation, which results in the production of a large volume of wastewater. Treatment of petrochemical wastewater is an important process before discharging it into the environment. This research examines the treatment of real petrochemical wastewater using the electrochemical oxidation process. Direct anodic oxidation is an effective advanced electrochemical oxidation process (AEOP), with different electrodes using a parallel plate electrochemical reactor. Four types of real wastewater were received from different petrochemical units were treated by AEOP. Real wastewater samples with chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations ranging from 20,450 to 52,300 mg/l. The main goal of this research is to make electrodes of Mixed Metal Oxide (MMO), which can reduce the treatment time and electricity consumption for oxidation, greater stability of the surface of the electrodes. Investigation of the rate constant kinetics shows that high COD removal efficiency can be achieved following the pseudo-second order reaction rate (R 2 > 98%). When the wastewater pH is less than 5, COD removal efficiency is higher and the treatment process will be successful, which succeeded in removing 79% COD, but in alkaline wastewater, COD reduction efficiency was not satisfactory. The electricity consumption for 79% removal during 6 min was 117 kWh/m 3 . As a result, due to the very short time of the process (6 min), it can be used as one of the pre-treatment steps of petrochemical wastewater with acidic pH.

Pieter Candry, Shengle Huang, José M. Carvajal‐Arroyo et al.

Scientific Reports • 2020

Chain elongation is a microbial process in which an electron donor, such as ethanol, is used to elongate short chain carboxylic acids, such as acetic acid, to medium chain carboxylic acids. This metabolism has been extensively investigated, but the spread and differentiation of chain elongators in the environment remains unexplored. Here, chain elongating communities were enriched from several inocula (3 anaerobic digesters, 2 animal faeces and 1 caproic acid producing environment) using ethanol and acetic acid as substrates at pH 7 and 5.5. This approach showed that (i) the inoculum's origin determines the pH where native chain elongators can grow; (ii) pH affects caproic acid production, with average caproic acid concentrations of 6.4 ± 1.6 g·L -1 at pH 7, versus 2.3 ± 1.8 g·L -1 at pH 5.5; however (iii) pH does not affect growth rates significantly; (iv) all communities contained a close relative of the known chain elongator Clostridium kluyveri; and (v) low pH selects for communities more enriched in this Clostridium kluyveri-relative (57.6 ± 23.2% at pH 7, 96.9 ± 1.2% at pH 5.5). These observations show that ethanol-consuming chain elongators can be found in several natural and engineered environments, but are not the same everywhere, emphasising the need for careful inoculum selection during process development.

Yunyi Li, Andrew B. Cundy, Jingxuan Feng et al.

Journal of Environmental Management • 2017

Omojola Awogbemi, Daramy Vandi Von Kallon, E. I. Onuh et al.

Energies • 2021

Biofuel, a cost-effective, safe, and environmentally benign fuel produced from renewable sources, has been accepted as a sustainable replacement and a panacea for the damaging effects of the exploration for and consumption of fossil-based fuels. The current work examines the classification, generation, and utilization of biofuels, particularly in internal combustion engine (ICE) applications. Biofuels are classified according to their physical state, technology maturity, the generation of feedstock, and the generation of products. The methods of production and the advantages of the application of biogas, bioalcohol, and hydrogen in spark ignition engines, as well as biodiesel, Fischer–Tropsch fuel, and dimethyl ether in compression ignition engines, in terms of engine performance and emission are highlighted. The generation of biofuels from waste helps in waste minimization, proper waste disposal, and sanitation. The utilization of biofuels in ICEs improves engine performance and mitigates the emission of poisonous gases. There is a need for appropriate policy frameworks to promote commercial production and seamless deployment of these biofuels for transportation applications with a view to guaranteeing energy security.

Kashif Rasool, Sabir Hussain, Asif Shahzad et al.

Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology • 2023

Abstract The growing global population and higher living standards instantly demand the transition in the direction of a sustainable food system. A substantial section of means and agricultural lands are presently committed to protein-rich feed production to rear livestock for human consumption. Conversely, accelerated farming activities and the food industry have rendered a drastic increase in waste which impair the economic and environmental sustainability of the ecosystem. This situation emerges the need for developing an integrated technology for waste management and to improve sustainability footprints. Microbial protein (MP) production based on renewable electron and carbon sources has the potential as a substitute protein source. MP production for animal feed use is growing fast and is derived from bacteria, algae, and fungi including yeast. MP produced from all types of microbes is currently commercialized and in use. However, novel methods and processes are also under investigation to make MP production more economical and sustainable. Current research on MP has concentrated on the valorization of waste materials by using high protein content-containing microorganisms, which can then be used in animal feed. Using such kind of integrated approach, the agroindustry waste resources upcycling can contribute towards finding sustainable, cheaper, and environment-friendly protein sources. This review first describes the potential waste feedstock for MP production and summarizes the recent progress in the application of MP-producing microorganisms including fungus, yeast, bacteria, and phototrophic microbes. Bioprocesses, and production technology advances for MP production have been explored and discussed in detail. Finally, the MP application as animal feed, its challenges, and future perspectives in research have been evaluated.

Elisa Casula, Byung Chul Kim, Henry Chesson et al.

Electrochimica Acta • 2020

Joshua M. Lawrence, Rachel M. Egan, Thomas Hoefer et al.

Nature Reviews Bioengineering • 2023

Alex J. Lewis, Abhijeet P. Borole

Biochemical Engineering Journal • 2016

Paola Paiano, Miriam Menini, Marco Zeppilli et al.

Bioelectrochemistry • 2019

Vesa Ruuskanen, Georgy Givirovskiy, Jere Elfving et al.

Journal of Cleaner Production • 2020

The pace at which the human population is growing raises serious concerns related to food security while at the same time conventional agriculture-based food production is becoming a major cause of environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Numerous solutions have been proposed to boost food production among which edible microbial biomass is considered a promising alternative to conventional sources of food and feed with lower environmental footprint. This work introduces the Neo-Carbon Food concept that is a pilot-scale hybrid biological–inorganic process suitable for the production of microbial biomass. The concept includes integrated hydrogen production by water electrolysis, direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide, and its subsequent assimilation by autotrophic hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB). The hydrogen production with in situ electrolysis achieved specific energy consumption just below 100 kWh/kgH2 while the specific energy consumption of DAC was around 20 kWh/kgCO2.

Christin Koch, Katharina J. Huber, Boyke Bunk et al.

npj Biofilms and Microbiomes • 2019

Microbial anodes represent a distinct ecological niche that is characterized mainly by the terminal electron acceptor, i.e., the anode potential, and the substrate, i.e., the electron source. Here, we determine the performance and the biofilm community of anode microbiomes while using substrates of increasing complexity (organic acids or organic acids and sugar or real domestic wastewater) to mimic different, practically relevant, trophic levels. α-Diversity values increased with substrate complexity. In addition, the higher abundance value of Deltaproteobacteria in the biofilms corresponds to higher reactor performance (i.e., COD removal, current density, and Coulombic efficiency). In reactors exploiting real wastewater, the diversity of the planktonic microorganisms was only little affected. Microbiome network analysis revealed two important clusters for reactor performance as well as performance-independent pathogen-containing clusters. Interestingly, Geobacter was not found to be integrated in the network underlining its outstanding individual ecological role in line with its importance for the efficiency of the electron harvest for all reactors. The microbiome analysis of different trophic levels and their temporal development from initial colonization to stable treatment demonstrate important principles for the implementation of microbial anodes for wastewater treatment.

Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman, Hale Özgün, Recep Kaan Dereli et al.

Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology • 2020

Excess sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is regarded the key energy source for achieving energy neutral WWTPs. The anaerobic digestion process transforms sludge-organic matter into methane, which subsequently can be used for heat and electricity production. Conventional anaerobic digesters (ADs) have been used for sludge treatment for many decades, requiring high energy and providing poor effluent quality. Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology exhibits a promising option for treatment of high solids concentration streams including sludge. AnMBRs result in an increase in digestion efficiency and enhancement in effluent quality at small footprints. AnMBRs have the potential to reduce capital and operational costs, and produce more energy in comparison to conventional ADs. Thus, energy neutral or positive operation can be achieved with AnMBRs. Besides, nutrient recovery or direct use of permeate will become more feasible in AnMBRs compared to use of sludge supernatant in ADs. However, membrane fouling can limit the feasibility of AnMBRs for sludge treatment, which requires further research. This review paper critically evaluates the current status of AnMBR technology for municipal sludge treatment discussing the effect of different factors on treatment and membrane filtration performances. Furthermore, future research opportunities to enhance applicability of this technology are addressed.

Carlo Santoro, Xavier Alexis Walter, Francesca Soavi et al.

Electrochimica Acta • 2019

A self-stratified microbial fuel cell fed with human urine with a total internal volume of 0.55 ml was investigated as an internal supercapacitor, for the first time. The internal self-stratification allowed the development of two zones within the cell volume. The oxidation reaction occurred on the bottom electrode (anode) and the reduction reaction on the top electrode (cathode). The electrodes were discharged galvanostatically at different currents and the two electrodes were able to recover their initial voltage value due to their red-ox reactions. Anode and cathode apparent capacitance was increased after introducing high surface area activated carbon embedded within the electrodes. Peak power produced was 1.20 ± 0.04 mW (2.19 ± 0.06 mW ml -1 ) for a pulse time of 0.01 s that decreased to 0.65 ± 0.02 mW (1.18 ± 0.04 mW ml -1 ) for longer pulse periods (5 s). Durability tests were conducted over 44 h with ≈2600 discharge/recharge cycles. In this relatively long-term test, the equivalent series resistance increased only by 10% and the apparent capacitance decreased by 18%.

Antony V. Samrot, Samraj Wilson, Ram Singh Sanjay Preeth et al.

Sustainability • 2023

In the practice of medicine, antibiotics are extremely important and are employed in the treatment of infections. A lot of antibiotics are consumed by humans and excreted via urine and feces into sewage systems and treatment plants. These are considered to be non-biodegradable, and over the years they accumulate in the aquatic environment. The presence of antibiotics in water resources causes the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, posing a serious threat to the health of human beings. Water bodies must be adequately treated before being discharged to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance. In the present article, the sources of antibiotics and strategies used for their effective removal, such as ultrafiltration, microfiltration, nanofiltration, membranous biological reactor treatment, Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP), Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Nano sorbents, are discussed. Conventional wastewater treatment plants are not able to eliminate antibiotics deposition/resistance genes effectively and efficiently. In this regard, the adsorption method is the most effective way of removing antibiotics from wastewater from various sources.

Ramita Khanongnuch, Haris Nalakath Abubackar, Tuğba Keskin et al.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews • 2021

Amanda Prado de Nicolás, Carlos A. Ramírez-Vargas, Carlos Alberto Arias et al.

The Science of The Total Environment • 2020

Ananda Rao Hari, Krishnaveni Venkidusamy, Krishna P. Katuri et al.

Frontiers in Microbiology • 2017

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are widely considered as a next generation wastewater treatment system. However, fundamental insight on the temporal dynamics of microbial communities associated with MEC performance under different organic types with varied loading concentrations is still unknown, nevertheless this knowledge is essential for optimizing this technology for real-scale applications. Here, the temporal dynamics of anodic microbial communities associated with MEC performance was examined at low (0.5 g COD/L) and high (4 g COD/L) concentrations of acetate or propionate, which are important intermediates of fermentation of municipal wastewaters and sludge. The results showed that acetate-fed reactors exhibited higher performance in terms of maximum current density ( I : 4.25 ± 0.23 A/m 2 ), coulombic efficiency (CE: 95 ± 8%), and substrate degradation rate (98.8 ± 1.2%) than propionate-fed reactors ( I : 2.7 ± 0.28 A/m 2 ; CE: 68 ± 9.5%; substrate degradation rate: 84 ± 13%) irrespective of the concentrations tested. Despite of the repeated sampling of the anodic biofilm over time, the high-concentration reactors demonstrated lower and stable performance in terms of current density ( I : 1.1 ± 0.14 to 4.2 ± 0.21 A/m 2 ), coulombic efficiency (CE: 44 ± 4.1 to 103 ± 7.2%) and substrate degradation rate (64.9 ± 6.3 to 99.7 ± 0.5%), while the low-concentration reactors produced higher and dynamic performance ( I : 1.1 ± 0.12 to 4.6 ± 0.1 A/m 2 ; CE: 52 ± 2.5 to 105 ± 2.7%; substrate degradation rate: 87.2 ± 0.2 to 99.9 ± 0.06%) with the different substrates tested. Correlating reactor's performance with temporal dynamics of microbial communities showed that relatively similar anodic microbial community composition but with varying relative abundances was observed in all the reactors despite differences in the substrate and concentrations tested. Particularly, Geobacter was the predominant bacteria on the anode biofilm of all MECs over time suggesting its possible role in maintaining functional stability of MECs fed with low and high concentrations of acetate and propionate. Taken together, these results provide new insights on the microbial community dynamics and its correlation to performance in MECs fed with different concentrations of acetate and propionate, which are important volatile fatty acids in wastewater.