Assessment of ligninolytic bacterial consortium for the degradation of azo dye with electricity generation in a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell

The contribution of microorganisms toward sustainable energy generation, bioremediation and other industrial applications is incredible though a large part of it remains untapped and unexplored. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) serve a promising technology for renewable energy generation through the oxidation of biodegradable organic stuff in the presence of electro-genic bacteria. Well suited applications of MFC are simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity production. The present study aimed to find a potential dye decolorizing ligninolytic bacterial consortium for the degradation of azo dye mixture with the generation of electricity in a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell. In the present study, the bacterial consortium WGC-D was investigated for its ability to produce electricity with the degradation of azo direct dye mixture. For this, a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell was assembled. The bacterial consortium WGC-D was inoculated in the anode chamber and the MFC was operated for 7 days. UV–visible and FTIR spectral studies fortified the biodegradation mechanism of dye components by the consortium. GCMS study revealed the biotransformation of dye molecules to various smaller molecules during the degradation process. The MFC generated up to 673 mV during the operation period which revealed the electro-genic nature of the bacterial consortium. The bacterial biofilm formation on carbon cloth anode was observed by FESEM analysis. The cyclic voltammetric study confirmed the extracellular electron transfer (EET) by the consortium to the anode