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Paddy and Water Environment

, Volume 17, Issue 1, pp 13–21 | Cite as

Decreasing sulfide in sediment and promoting plant growth by plant–sediment microbial fuel cells with emerged plants

  • Yiyang Liu
  • Haiqin Zhang
  • Zhihao Lu
  • María de Lourdes Mendoza
  • Jingxing Ma
  • Lankun Cai
  • Lehua ZhangEmail author
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Four plant–sediment microbial fuel cells (plant-SMFCs) with four plant species, Oryza sativa, Acorus calamus, Spathiphyllum petite and Chamaedorea elegans, were built to investigate sulfide concentrations, pH and oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) in the sediment as well as plant growth. Sulfide concentrations at 1 and 2 cm depth of sediment in plant-SMFCs and their control reactors were 1.66 ± 0.30, 9.29 ± 3.46, 2.38 ± 0.10 and 24.20 ± 1.02 μmol g−1, respectively. The ORP in water and sediment of 1 and 2 cm depth in plant-SMFCs was 106.0 ± 7.7, − 142 ± 30 and − 209 ± 9 mV, respectively. The ORP in the three control reactors was 119.0 ± 11.5, − 209 ± 9 and − 386 ± 2 mV, respectively. Harvest of O. sativa, A. calamus, Spathiphyllum petite and C. elegans was 0.218 ± 0.009, 0.136 ± 0.007, 0.127 ± 0.007 and 0.340 ± 0.007 gDW g−1GW in the plant-SMFCs, while that of their control reactors was 0.179 ± 0.011, 0.127 ± 0.008, 0.102 ± 0.007 and 0.318 ± 0.006 gDW g−1GW, respectively. The results showed that sulfide concentrations decreased in sediments of plant-SMFCs, while the ORPs in both the overlying water and sediments increased. Moreover, plant growth due to operating plant-SMFCs was promoted. Running plant-SMFCs abates the toxicity of sulfide to the emerged plants as well as decreases the sulfide emission in water–plant–sediment systems.

Keywords

Sediment microbial fuel cells Sulfide Sediment Aquatic plants 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (20906026) and the special fund of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (18K10ESPCT). Authors thank Dr. Shengyong Zhai for her suggestions and comments.

Supplementary material

10333_2018_679_MOESM1_ESM.docx (119 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 118 kb)

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Copyright information

© The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Yiyang Liu
    • 1
  • Haiqin Zhang
    • 1
  • Zhihao Lu
    • 1
  • María de Lourdes Mendoza
    • 2
  • Jingxing Ma
    • 1
  • Lankun Cai
    • 1
  • Lehua Zhang
    • 1
    • 3
    Email author
  1. 1.State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringEast China University of Science and TechnologyShanghaiChina
  2. 2.Department of Environmental and Chemical Science (DCQA)Superior Polytechnic School of the Coast (ESPOL)GuayaquilEcuador
  3. 3.Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological SecurityShanghaiChina

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