LAUSR

Performances of anodic ammonia oxidation have been investigated for various bioelectrochemical systems at a wide range of poised anodic potentials in the literature. The effect of poised cathodic potential on ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and total nitrogen (TN, sum of NH4+-N, NO2--N, and NO3--N) removal from domestic wastewater by single chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was investigated. Poising the air-cathode potential at + 0.7 V vs. SHE significantly increased current generation (from 11 ± 1 mA to 22.8 ± 5 mA) and oxygen permeation into the MFC through the air-cathode (from 75.4 ± 1.2 g-O2/m3/d to 151 ± 3.7 g-O2/m3/d), which consequently resulted in a high NH4+-N removal rate of 150 ± 13 g-NH4+-N/m3/d and TN removal rate of 63 ± 16 g-TN/m3/d. These high NH4+-N and TN removal rates could be attributed to the enhancement of dual respiratory pathways: the electrode-assisted anodic and aerobic NH4+ oxidation.