FY2010 - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Seed Money Fund—
Biosciences Division
Nafion membrane. A carbon cloth was used as the anode material. This device was used in the anaerobic
chamber and inoculated with a electrogenic consortium from acetate-fed MFCs. A load of 250 ohms was
used between the anode and the cathode. A small current was observed after incubation for 3 days at
room temperature, indicating growth of electrogenic organisms. Sufficient growth of cells was not
observed to enable visual observation, so a second plate with controlled voltage, air diffusion, and
nondisposable material was made. This plate was operated using an air cathode and resulted in significant
growth of microorganisms on the anode electrode surface. The microbial biofilms were examined under
microscope and appeared to be made up of homogeneous colonies of organisms. Further purification can
be done by repeated streaking on the BEC plates. Thus, the utility of the plate in growing and isolating
electrogens from anode consortia was demonstrated. The plate has potential to be used in understanding
microbial and protein diversity of extracellular electron transfer-capable microorganisms in projects such
as the Permafrost project and others via omics and imaging technologies resident at ORNL.
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