Development of a New Hydrogel Anion Exchange Membrane for Swine Wastewater Treatment.

We developed a proprietary anion exchange membrane (AEM) for wastewater treatment as an alternative to commercial products. Following the successful development of a hydrogel cation exchange membrane on a porous ceramic support, we used the same approach to fabricate an AEM. Different positively charged monomers and conditions were tested, and all AEMs were tested for nitrate and phosphate anion removal from buffers by electrodialysis.

Magnet-Facilitated Selection of Electrogenic Bacteria from Marine Sediment.

Some bacteria can carry out anaerobic respiration by depositing electrons on external materials, such as electrodes, thereby creating an electrical current. Into the anode chamber of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) having abiotic air-cathodes we inoculated microorganisms cultured from a magnetic particle-enriched portion of a marine tidal sediment, reasoning that since some external electron acceptors are ferromagnetic, electrogenic bacteria should be found in their vicinity. Two MFCs, one inoculated with a mixed bacterial culture and the other with an axenic culture of a helical bacterium isolated from the magnetic particle enrichment, termed strain HJ, were operated for 65 d.