Development of Electroactive and Anaerobic Ammonium-Oxidizing (Anammox) Biofilms from Digestate in Microbial Fuel Cells

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the MFC-C and MFC-U reactors and the start-up phase. (a) H-type MFC inoculated with G. sulfurreducens and fed with synthetic medium containing acetate; after one-month operation small pieces of the anode were cut out and bacterial biofilm was visualized by the live-dead assay. Additionally, DNA samples were obtained from biofilm and amplified with universal or G. sulfurreducens 16S rRNA primers. E. coli and G. sulfurreducens DNAs were used as controls. (b) MFC-C was assembled with the anode from the reactor in panel (a); MFC-U was assembled with a sterile anode. Both reactors were operated under the same conditions and fed with digestate medium once a week. The arrowhead marks the transition from inactive to active MFC-U reactor.

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