Chemistry

Electrode

Constructed wetland

Anode

Environmental chemistry

Microbial fuel cell

Wastewater

Bacteria

Biology

Effluent

Environmental science

Microbial population biology

Physical chemistry

Microorganism

Microbial consortium

Genetics

Environmental engineering

The Science of The Total Environment

Two constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (CW-MFC) devices, experimental group (EG, with 5 mg/L Pb(II) addition) and control group (CG) were built to explore the changes in power generation, wastewater purification and microbial community structure under Pb(II) stress. The voltage of EG (343.16 ± 12.14 mV) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that of CG (295.49 ± 13.91 mV), and the highest power density of the EG and CG were 7.432 mW·m−2 and 3.873 mW·m−2, respectively. There was no significant difference in the removal of common pollutants between these groups except for the NH4+-N removal efficiency, which was probably caused by the inhibition of the bioactivity of Comamonas (AOB) in the anode of the experimental group by Pb(II). Pb(II) was effectively removed by CW-MFC (84.86 ± 3%), and the abundant amount of fulvic acid-like matter in the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) of the EG contributed to its removal. The presence of Pb(II) had a negative effect on both microbial community diversity and...

Changes in electricity production and microbial community evolution in constructed wetland-microbial fuel cell exposed to wastewater containing Pb(II)