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- Title
Removal of heavy metals in a flow‐through vertical microbial electrolysis cell.
- Authors
Jugnia, Louis‐B.; Manno, Dominic; Hendry, Meghan; Tartakovsky, Boris
- Abstract
This work describes laboratory experiments aimed at evaluating the feasibility of removing heavy metals from metal‐contaminated water in flow‐through microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) with peat moss as a source of organic carbon. MECs were assembled in upflow glass columns containing granular activated carbon (GAC) bioelectrodes preceded by a layer of peat moss. The MECs were fed with metal‐contaminated surface water collected at a firing range. At hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 4–6 days, up to 99 % removal of Pb, Zn, Cu, and Fe was observed. The removal efficiency of Zn and Cu declined at an HRT of 1.7 days, while effluent Pb concentration remained below the detection limit for all of the HRTs tested. Metal extraction from MEC compartments showed an accumulation of metals in both the peat moss layer and the GAC cathode, i.e., the removal was achieved by a combination of anaerobic and bioelectrochemical pathways of metal reduction. A proliferation of sulphate reducing bacteria in the peat moss layer and electroactive species in GAC electrodes was confirmed by biomolecular analysis. The proposed flow‐through system, which combines sulphate‐reducing and electroactive microbial activities to achieve near‐complete metal removal, can be used for removing a broad range of heavy metals from contaminated water in a low‐cost passive flow treatment system.
- Subjects
MICROBIAL cells; BIOELECTROCHEMISTRY; HEAVY metals; PEAT mosses; WATER pollution; ACTIVATED carbon; RIFLE-ranges
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2019, Vol 97, Issue 10, p2608
- ISSN
0008-4034
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/cjce.23568