Co-metabolism kinetics and electrogenesis change during cyanide degradation in a microbial fuel cell

Abstract

The co-metabolic degradation kinetics, microbial growth kinetics and electricity generation capacity were researched of strain MC-1 in a MFC (microbial fuel cell). The results show that Haldane and Aiba models suit the growth kinetics of a single substrate (sodium acetate) MFC with 0.995 correlation coefficient. Moreover, the Haldane model was appropriate to describe the growth kinetics of a single substrate (sodium cyanide) MFC with 0.986 correlation coefficient. The growth kinetics of a mixed substrate MFC can be explained well by the SKIP model with correlation coefficient 0.995. Second order and three-half order models were found to suitably describe the cyanide degradation process. The maximum output voltage of MFC and the cyanide degradation efficiency were significantly enhanced by using sodium acetate and cyanide as mixed substrates. Also, the trend of electricity production is related to the growth cycle of microorganisms in a MFC.