Abstract
Conventional wastewater purification technologies consume large amounts of energy, while the abundant chemical energy and nutrient resources contained in sewage are wasted in such treatment processes. A microbial nutrient recovery cell (MNRC) has been developed to take advantage of the energy contained in wastewater, in order to simultaneously purify wastewater and recover nutrient ions. When wastewater was circulated between the anode and cathode chambers of the MNRC, the organics (COD) were removed by bacteria while ammonium and phosphate (NH4(+)-N and PO4(3-)-P) were recovered by the electrical field that was produced using in situ energy in the wastewater without additional energy input. The removal efficiencies from wastewater were >82% for COD, >96% for NH4(+)-N, and >64% for PO4(3-)-P in all the operational cycles. Simultaneously, the concentrations of NH4(+) and PO4(3-) in the recovery chamber increased to more than 1.5 and 2.2 times, respectively, compared with the initial concentrations in wastewater. The MNRC provides proof-of-concept as a sustainable, self-driven approach to efficient wastewater purification and nutrient recovery in a comprehensive bioelectrochemical system.