Geobacter sp. strain 60473, a potent bioaugmentation agent for improving the performance of bioelectrochemical systems

Bioaugmentation with electrochemically active bacteria (EAB) has been suggested to be useful for improving the performance of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), while its success is dependent on EAB introduced into the systems. Here we report on the isolation and characterization of a novel EAB, Geobacter sp. strain 60473, that is highly adhesive to graphite electrodes and generates high current densities in BESs equipped with graphite/carbon electrodes, including graphite felts and glassy carbons. Substantial enhancement in current generation and organics removal was observed, when BESs using starch as the major organic substrate and paddy soil as the inoculum were bioaugmented with strain 60473. We suggest that strain 60473 is a potent bioaugmentation agent capable of improving the performance of BESs, including microbial electrolysis cells and microbial fuel cells.