Obtaining environmentally friendly energy from the biomass of extremophilic organisms

The environmental situation forces us to look for an alternative to traditional fuels. The interest of researchers has recently been directed to microbial fuel cells (MFC) and the production of environmentally friendly energy with the help of microorganisms without environmental pollution. A little studied, but promising direction is the use of extremophilic microorganisms capable of existing in extreme conditions. An example of such bacteria are iron bacteria that live in the soils of coal dumps. Wastewater components can serve as a substrate for MFC. The aim of the study is to obtain bioenergy with the help of iron bacteria. As a result, 5 isolated cultures of iron bacteria were isolated by cultivating a suspension of the soil of the Mokhovsky coal dump. A number of studies have been conducted on the selection of optimal operating conditions for MFC. It was found that cultures № 1 and № 2 are extremophilic, since they generated the maximum voltage (350,9 mV and 346,8 mV) in a medium with pH=3. It is confirmed that the cultures selected in this way are biocompatible. A consortium of these cultures was compiled in a ratio of 1:1, which was used in further experiments. As a result of the study, it was found that the most optimal temperature for the operation of the MFC is 37 oC, while the consortium of bacteria generated a voltage of 256,1 mV. The most optimal operating time of the MTE was 48 hours, after which the bacteria generated a voltage of 212,3 mV. The most optimal substrate for loading into the MFC was a medium containing glucose and a solution of trace elements. On this substrate, the bacteria generated a voltage of 403,4 mV. After the optimal time of the experiment, the clarification of substrate No. 1 and precipitation to the bottom of the chamber were recorded, which indicates that MFC can also be used for wastewater treatment.