Acceleration of organic removal and electricity generation from dewatered oily sludge in a bioelectrochemical system by rhamnolipid addition

Citation:

Zhang, Y., Zhao, Q., Jiang, J., Wang, K., Wei, L., Ding, J., & Yu, H. (2017). Acceleration of organic removal and electricity generation from dewatered oily sludge in a bioelectrochemical system by rhamnolipid addition.  Bioresource technology,  243, 820-827.

Abstract:

Conversion of biomass energy of dewatered oily sludge to electricity is the rate-limiting process in bioelectrochemical system (BES). In this study, 2  mg  g^−1rhamnolipids were added to dewatered oily sludge, resulting in a significant enhancement in maximum power density from 3.84   ±  0.37 to 8.63   ±  0.81  W  m^−3, together with an increase in total organic carbon (TOC) and total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) removal from 24.52   ±  4.30 to 36.15   ±  2.79  mg  g^−1  and 29.51   ±  3.30 to 39.80   ±  2.47  mg  g^−1, respectively. Rhamnolipids can also enhance the solubilization and promote the hydrolysis of dewatered oily sludge with increases in SOCD from 14.93   ±  2.44 to 18.40   ±  0.08  mg  g^−1  and VFAs from 1.02   ±  0.07 to 1.39   ±  0.12  mg  g^−1. Furthermore, bacteria related to substrate degradation were predominant in dewatered oily sludge, and bacteria related to the sulfate/sulfide cycle were significantly enriched by rhamnolipid addition.

Justification:

I initially found this paper interesting because the overall process being looked at uses bioremediation of petroleum waste as a mechanism for generating electricity. This covers how the addition of Rhamnolipids improves the process’s effectiveness and how the active bacterial composition changes after its addition.

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