The potential of microbial fuel cells for remediation of heavy metals from soil and water—review of application

TY - JOUR

T1 - The potential of microbial fuel cells for remediation of heavy metals from soil and water—review of application

AU - Fang, Chaolin

AU - Achal, Varenyam

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2019/12

Y1 - 2019/12

N2 - The global energy crisis and heavy metal pollution are the common problems of the world. It is noted that the microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed as a promising technique for sustainable energy production and simultaneously coupled with the remediation of heavy metals from water and soil. This paper reviewed the performances of MFCs for heavy metal removal from soil and water. Electrochemical and microbial biocatalytic reactions synergistically resulted in power generation and the high removal efficiencies of several heavy metals in wastewater, such as copper, hexavalent chromium, mercury, silver, thallium. The coupling system of MFCs and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) successfully reduced cadmium and lead without external energy input. Moreover, the effects of pH and electrode materials on the MFCs in water were discussed. In addition, the remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil by MFCs were summarized, noting that plant-MFC performed very well in the heavy metal removal.

AB - The global energy crisis and heavy metal pollution are the common problems of the world. It is noted that the microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed as a promising technique for sustainable energy production and simultaneously coupled with the remediation of heavy metals from water and soil. This paper reviewed the performances of MFCs for heavy metal removal from soil and water. Electrochemical and microbial biocatalytic reactions synergistically resulted in power generation and the high removal efficiencies of several heavy metals in wastewater, such as copper, hexavalent chromium, mercury, silver, thallium. The coupling system of MFCs and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) successfully reduced cadmium and lead without external energy input. Moreover, the effects of pH and electrode materials on the MFCs in water were discussed. In addition, the remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil by MFCs were summarized, noting that plant-MFC performed very well in the heavy metal removal.

KW - Heavy metals

KW - Microbial electrolysis cell

KW - Microbial fuel cell

KW - Wastewater

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076782467&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/microorganisms7120697

DO - 10.3390/microorganisms7120697

M3 - 文献综述

AN - SCOPUS:85076782467

SN - 2076-2607

VL - 7

JO - Microorganisms

JF - Microorganisms

IS - 12

M1 - 697

ER -