Applied potentials regulate recovery of residual hydrogen from acid-rich effluents: Influence of biocathodic buffer capacity over process performance.

An absolute biological microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) was operated for a prolonged period under different applied potentials (Eapp, -0.2V to -1.0V) and hydrogen (H2) production was observed using acid-rich effluent. Among these potentials, an optimal voltage of -0.6 V influenced the biocathode by which maximum H2 production of 120 ± 9 ml was noticed. This finding was corroborated with dehydrogenase activity (1.8 ± 0.1 μg/ml) which is the key enzyme for H2 production. The in situ biocathode regulated buffer overpotentials which was remarkably observed by the change in peak heights of dissociation value (pKa) from the titration curve. Substrate degradation analysis gave an estimate of coulombic efficiency of about 72 ± 5% when operated at optimal voltage. Evidently, the electron transfer from solid carbon electrode to biocathode was analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and its derivatives showed the involvement of redox mediators. Despite, the MEC endures certain activation overpotentials which were estimated from the Tafel slope analysis.