Multi-system Nernst–Michaelis–Menten model applied to bioanodes formed from sewage sludge

• Efficient bioanodes were designed from hydrolyzed sewage sludge.
• Bioanodes electrochemical kinetics were studied using voltammetric analyses.
• Electrochemical systems identified displayed reversible Nernstian kinetics.
• Microbial communities were analysed by 16S-RNA pyrosequencing.

Bioanodes were formed under constant polarization at −0.2 V/SCE from fermented sewage sludge. Current densities reached were 9.3 ± 1.2 A m−2 with the whole fermented sludge and 6.2 ± 0.9 A m−2 with the fermented sludge supernatant. The bioanode kinetics was analysed by differentiating among the contributions of the three redox systems identified by voltammetry. Each system ensured reversible Nernstian electron transfer but around a different central potential. The global overpotential required to reach the maximum current plateau was not imposed by slow electron transfer rates but was due to the potential range covered by the different redox systems. The microbial communities of the three bioanodes were analysed by 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. They showed a significant microbial diversity around a core of Desulfuromonadales, the proportion of which was correlated with the electrochemical performance of the bioanodes.