Garden compost inoculum leads to microbial bioanodes with potential-independent characteristics

Bibiana Cercado Quezada (1) , Nathalie Byrne (2) , Marie Bertrand-Huleux (2) , Diana Pocaznoi (1) , Mickaël Rimboud (1) , Wafa Achouak (2) , Alain Bergel (1)

1 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
2 LEMIRE - Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne de la Rhizosphère et d'Environnements Extrêmes

Garden compost leachate was used to form microbial bioanodes under polarization at 0.4, 0.2 and +0.1 V/SCE. Current densities were 6.3 and 8.9 A m2 on average at 0.4 and +0.1 V/SCE respectively, with acetate 10 mM. The catalytic cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed similar electrochemical characteristics for all bioanodes and indicated that the lower currents recorded at 0.4 V/SCE were due to the slower interfacial electron transfer rate at this potential, consistently with conventional electrochemical kinetics.RNA- and DNA-based DGGE evidenced that the three dominant bacterial groups Geobacter, Anaerophaga and Pelobacter were identical for all bioanodes and did not depend on the polarization potential. Only non-turnover CVs showed differences in the redox equipment of the biofilms, the highest potential promoting multiple electron transfer pathways. This first description of a potential-independent electroactive microbial community opens up promising prospects for the design of stable bioanodes for microbial fuel cells.

Mots clés: Bioanode; Microbial anode; Potential; DGGE; Microbial fuel cell

Domaines: Génie chimique; Biochimie [q-bio.BM]

Bibiana Cercado Quezada, Nathalie Byrne, Marie Bertrand-Huleux, Diana Pocaznoi, Mickaël Rimboud, et al.. Garden compost inoculum leads to microbial bioanodes with potential-independent characteristics. Bioresource Technology, 2013, vol. 134, pp. 276-284. ⟨10.1016/j.biortech.2013.01.123⟩. ⟨hal-00878185⟩