A promising area of modern electrochemistry is the combination of electrochemical processes with biotechnological. This approach allowed us to develop a technology for producing electric energy by processing a variety of waste – the technology of microbial fuel cells. The determining component of this technology are biological agents – microorganisms. They are responsible for converting the energy of chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy. This article experimentally shows the ability of the commercial microbial consortium of the “Doctor Dr. Roebic 109” preparation to generate electric current in microbial fuel cells. Moreover, as a substrate for the microorganisms of “Dr. Roebic 109”, it is used as a substrate for fats and fat-containing products were used – margarine, lard and vegetable (sunflower) oil. The experiments were carried out in two-chamber structures of microbial fuel cells. They were made of plexiglass, and consisted of anaerobic anode and aerobic cathode chambers. The chambers were separated by a proton-exchange membrane MF-4SK. It is necessary for the transfer of protons from the anolyte to the catholyte during the operation of microbial fuel cells. The content of the anode was a model wastewater with the addition of 1 ml / l of the test fat or fat-containing product. Carbon tissue served as electrodes in microbial fuel cells. Based on the study of the dynamics of electrical parameters (open circuit voltage, short circuit current, rated power), a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of microbial fuel cells with the microbial preparation Dr. Roebic 109. The highest values of voltage and current were obtained when margarine was added to the anolyte as microbial fuel cells as a substrate for microorganisms – up to 540±56 mV and 880±126 μA, respectively. The power of microbial fuel cells (Dr. Roebic 109 preparation, substrate margarine), calculated on the basis of the obtained data, reached 475±57 μW for 6 days of the experiment. When studying the power of microbial fuel cells generated by Dr. Roebic 109 with the addition of lard, the studied parameter reached 336±53 μW, in a microbial fuel cell with vegetable oil – 163±25 μW. Thus, when modeling the contamination of model wastewater with the studied fats and fat-containing components, the most powerful microbiological preparation “Doctor Roebic 109” was produced in microbial fuel cells with pork fat and margarine. The introduction of vegetable oil as a substrate led to a less efficient operation of microbial fuel cells. The materials obtained make it possible to recommend the Dr. Roebic 109 commercial complex microbiological preparation for use in microbial fuel cell technology for generating electricity when treating various types of fat-containing wastewater – municipal wastewater, animal husbandry wastewater, wastewater from food processing enterprises (fat processing), etc.).

Korkina Ol’ga Sergeevna, Student, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 83, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation, e-mail: olga.korkina.95@mail.ru 

Sarapulova Galina Ibrahimovna, Doctor of Sciences (Chemistry), Professor, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 83, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation, e-mail: sara131@mail.ru 

Zhdanova Galina Olegovna, Research Scientist, Irkutsk State University, 3, Lenin st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: zhdanova86@yandex.ru 

Gorbunova Yuliya Olegovna, Research Assistant, Irkutsk State University, 3, Lenin st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, tel.: (3952) 34–34–37 e-mail: iuliia_gorbunova_93@mail.ru 

Ivanchikov Egor Andreevich, Graduate Student, East-Siberian State University of Technology and Management, 40B, build. 1, Klyuchevskaya st., Ulan-Ude, 670013, Republic of Buryatia, Russian Federation, e-mail: ivanchikov92@mail.ru 

Stom Devard Iosifovich, Doctor of Sciences (Biology), Professor, Head of Laboratory, Irkutsk State University, 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, Professor, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 83, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation, Chief Research Scientist, Baikal Museum ISC SB RAS, 1, Akademicheskaya st., Listvyanka, 664520, Russian Federation, e-mail: stomd@mail.ru 

Venko Nikolaev Beschkov, PhD, Professor, Institute of Chemical Engineering BAS, Block 103, Academik G. Bonchev st., Sofia, 1113, Bulgaria, e-mail: vbeschkov@yahoo.com

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