Gamma Ray Mutagenesis on Bacteria Isolated from Shrimp Farm Mud for Microbial Fuel Cell Enhancement and Degradation of Organic Waste

This chapter discusses the use of prokaryotic microorganisms to produce electrical bioenergy from a wide range of organic substrates in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). MFCs offer promising sustainable energy production and at the same time, simultaneous degradation of organic waste in the substrate. Active microorganisms capable of producing electricity bypassing the electron to the electrode are called electrochemically active bacteria. The study identified a method to obtain an optimum dose to increase the bacterial potential using the one factor at time (OFAT) method. The 63 Gy gamma dose irradiation increased the cell voltage to 280 mV with 33% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal while the maximum voltage of the wild strain was 154 mV with 55.7% of COD removal. The successful effect of the gamma radiation dose on the increase of the MFC’s bioelectricity and organic matter removal indicates that gamma rays are a way to boost the ability of the electrically active bacteria.