Forming electrochemically active biofilms from garden compost under chronoamperometry

Dimensionally stable anodes (DSA) were polarized at different constant potential values for several days in garden compost. After an initial lag period ranging from 1 to 10.5 days, the current increased fast and then stabilized for days. Current densities higher than 100 mA m−2 and up to 385 mA m−2 were obtained with the sole organic matter contained in compost as substrate. Control experiments performed with sterilized compost, oscillations of the current with the temperature, kinetics of the exponential phase of current increase and observations of the surface of electrodes by epifluorescence microscopy showed that the current was controlled by the colonization of the electrode surface by a biofilm which originated the indigenous flora of compost. Three individually addressed electrodes polarized at different potentials in the same reactor led to identical current evolutions on each electrode, which underlined the key role of the microbial flora of the compost in the discrepancy observed in the other experiments. Chronoamperometry revealed a promising technique to check natural environments for new electrochemically active microbial species.