Article pubs.acs.org/est
Autotrophic Denitrification in Microbial Fuel Cells Treating Low Ionic Strength Waters Sebastià Puig,*,† Marta Coma,† Joachim Desloover,‡ Nico Boon,‡ Jesús Colprim,† and M. Dolors Balaguer† †
Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUiA), Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi s/n, Facultat de Ciències, E-17071 Girona, Spain ‡ Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium ABSTRACT: The presence of elevated concentrations of nitrates in drinking water has become a serious concern worldwide. The use of autotrophic denitrification in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for waters with low ionic strengths (i.e., 1000 μS·cm−1) has not been considered previously. This study evaluated the feasibility of MFC technology for water denitification and also identified and quantified potential energy losses that result from their usage. The low conductivity (
