Bioelectrochemcial system for mitigating sewer gas formation and sewer pipe corrosion

As a fundamental part of the urban sanitary infrastructure, sewers have long been plagued by the emission of harmful sewer gases (i.e., H2S and CH4). Current sewer gas control strategies, e.g. chemical dose, oxygen injection, biocide application, require capital and energy inputs and are not sustainable. Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) are a novel technology that can realize the mutual conversion of electrical and chemical energy. Compared with current sewer gas control strategies, the operation of BES requires no addition of chemicals. In this research, we propose to mitigate sewer gas formation by steering bioprocesses in the sewer using BES. A bio-anode will be installed in the anaerobic sediment layer of the sewer, to prevent H2S and CH4 generation. The cathode will be exposed to the air phase (i.e. tidal or crown area in sewers) and oxygen reduction will occur. The goal of this research is to (I) demonstrate the proof-of-principle of inhibiting the generation of sewer gas by BES, (II) study the influence of environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, hydraulics, substrate concentration, etc.) on the performance of BES sewer gas control and microbiome composition, (III) investigate the long term efficiency and stability of BES on alleviating sewer gas under various conditions. This project will provide evidences from the electrochemical and microbiological perspectives for using BES to mitigate H2S and CH4 formation in sewers