Enhanced denitrification efficiency with immobilized bacteria in microbial fuel cell

In this paper, the influence of immobilized bacteria on the denitrification performance of microbial fuel cells (MFC) was studied, and a novel MFC with immobilized bacteria on electrodes was developed. The anode of the MFC was immobilized with electroactive microorganisms, while the cathode was immobilized with denitrifying bacteria, utilizing water-based polyurethane as a carrier. The results showed that the electroactive microorganisms immobilized on the anode improved the electron utilization efficiency, while the denitrifying bacteria immobilized on the cathode improved the denitrification performance. In addition, to ensure the efficiency of MFC, the number of electrodes can be reasonably determined according to the number of immobilized bacteria. High-throughput sequencing analysis showed that the immobilization of bacteria on MFC electrodes was beneficial to maintain the stability of the functional bacterial community structure. Therefore, the biochemical approach of utilizing immobilized bacteria to remove nitrate in MFC is a promising technology.