Influence of the initial sludge characteristics and acclimation on the longterm performance of double-compartment acetate-fed microbial fuel cells

Abstract In this work, three double-compartment MFCs (DC-MFC) were operated for 1 month in order to compare their performances in terms of wastewater treatment capacity and electricity production and to get information about how this performance is influenced by the start-up procedure. To do this, they underwent different start-up procedures. One of them (aerobic-starved MFC) was inoculated with 100% fresh aerobic sludge, another (anaerobic-starved MFC) using 100% fresh anaerobic sludge, and finally a third one (aerobic-fed MFC) was inoculated using a mixture 10% fresh aerobic sludge and 90% synthetic wastewater (based on acetate). Then, from this start-up, the cells were operated exactly u…