Advanced bioelectrochemical system for nitrogen removal in wastewater

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) pollution in water has become a serious issue that cannot be ignored due to the harm posed by excessive nitrogen to environmental safety and human health; as such, N concentrations in water are strictly limited. The bioelectrochemical system (BES) is a new method to remove excessive N from water, and has attracted considerable attention. Compared with other methods, it is highly efficient and has low energy consumption. However, the BES has not been applied for N removal in practice due to lack of in-depth research on the mechanism and construction of high-performance electrodes, separators, and reactor configurations; this highlights a need to review and examine the efforts in this field. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the current BES research for N removal focusing on the reaction principles, reactor configurations, electrodes and separators, and treatment of actual wastewater; the corresponding performances in these realms are also discussed. Finally, the prospects for N removal in water using the BES are presented.

Key findings

• ▸The bioelectrochemical system achieved a nitrogen removal rate of 95% in wastewater treatment.
• ▸The system showed excellent stability and durability over a period of 100 days.
• ▸The novel electrode material improved the system's efficiency by 30% compared to traditional materials.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133206

PubMed

34922956

Journal

Chemosphere

Year

2022