Generation of Electricity by Electrogenic Bacteria in a Microbial Fuel Cell Powered by Waste Water

The present study aimed at isolation characterization and evaluation of electrogenic bacteria for electricity generation using waste water. In this context, waste water samples were collected from University of Nizwa waste water treatment plant. A total of eight distinct bacterial isolates were isolated from these samples by serial dilution and plating on LB Agar medium. The bacterial isolates were than grown at different temperatures and pH. DNA from bacterial samples was isolated and 16S rRNA gene amplification was carried out. The 16S rRNA gene PCR products were directly sequenced and the resulting sequence was blasted using BLASTn. Based on BLAST results, the bacterial strains were identified. The bacteria were used in different combinations to generate electricity from waste water in microbial fuel cells constructed using plastic bottles. The microbial isolates were found to produce varying levels of currents and their electrogenic potential in waste water was observed to increase with the passage of time.