Bioelectricity generation and remediation of contaminated
intertidal zone of Yamaguchi Bay, Japan
ABSTRACT:
In this study, to generatebioelectricity to power the monitoring sensors
and to improve sediment simultaneously is discussed in Yamaguchi bay
located in south part of the Honshu island, Japan through sediment
microbial fuel cell (SMFC). To supply energy to the geoenvironmental
monitoring sensors is a serious problem, as traditional batteries and
solar cells are often inconvenient due to the limitations of recharging
and weather condition, respectively. Four different sediments were used
in the laboratory to generate bioelectricity and to improve sulfide
contamination simultaneously by SMFCs. The acid volatile sulfide (AVS)
was determined to check the improvement of the geo-environment of the
sediments as it was the main source of contamination in the intertidal
zone (tidal flat). Various factors which affected the voltage generation
have been studied. Volatge values showed almost twice when two anodes
were used instead of a single anode. Higher temperature showed the
higher voltage due to increased activity of the bacteria in the higher
temperature. AVS values reduced quickly when the closed circuit was
used. All the marine sediments showed the decreasing trend of AVS value
with time and reached at the 0.2 mg/g-dry mud indicating the
geoenvironmental improvement of the marine sediments within 14 days .
Field test showed the higher value of voltage comparing to the
laboratory test by using the similar sized SMFCs.
Keywords: AVS, bioelectricity, geoenvironment, marine sediment,
SMFC