Use of a coculture to enable current production by Geobacter sulfurreducens

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells often produce more electrical power with mixed cultures than with pure cultures. Here, we show that a coculture of a nonexoelectrogen (Escherichia coli) and Geobacter sulfurreducens improved system performance relative to that of a pure culture of the exoelectrogen due to the consumption of oxygen leaking into the reactor. © 2012, American Society for Microbiology.