Bruce Logan
KAPPE PROFESSOR of Environmental Engineering | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Bruce Logan is an expert in civil engineering with a focus on environment transport processes, bioremediation, energy, and water treatment.
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Industry Expertise (3)
Sanitation and Waste Management
Civil Engineering
Energy
Areas of Expertise (3)
Bioremediation
Renewable energy technologies
Wastewater Treatment
Biography
Bruce Logan is the Evan Pugh Professor in Engineering and the Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State. He serves as director of both the Engineering Energy and Environmental Institute and the Hydrogen Energy Center at Penn State.
Logan's research focuses on developing new renewable energy technologies, such as microbial fuel cells and thermal batteries, for achieving an energy sustainable water infrastructure; wastewater treatment; and bioremediation.
Logan has authored many publications and received numerous awards and honors for his work and has been been appointed visiting professor at several universities around the world. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the International Water Association and the Water Environment Foundation.
Education (3)
University of California Berkley: Ph.D., Environmental Engineering 1986
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: M.S., Environmental Engineering 1980
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: B.S., Chemical Engineering 1979
Affiliations (3)
- National Academy of Engineering, Member
- International Water Association, Fellow
- Water Environment Foundation, Fellow
Links (3)
Articles (5)
Addition of acetate improves stability of power generation using microbial fuel cells treating domestic wastewater
Bioelectrochemistry
Jennifer L Stager, Xiaoyuan Zhang, Bruce E Logan
2017 Power generation using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) must provide stable, continuous conversion of organic matter in wastewaters into electricity. However, when relatively small diameter (0.8 cm) graphite fiber brush anodes were placed close to the cathodes in MFCs, power generation was unstable during treatment of low strength domestic wastewater. One reactor produced 149 mW/m2 before power generation failed, while the other reactor produced 257 mW/m2, with both reactors exhibiting severe power overshoot in polarization tests. Using separators or activated carbon cathodes did not result in stable operation as the reactors continued to exhibit power overshoot based on polarization tests. However, adding acetate (1 g/L) to the wastewater produced stable performance during fed batch and continuous flow operation, and there was no power overshoot in polarization tests. These results highlight the importance of wastewater strength and brush anode size for producing stable and continuous power in compact MFCs.
AQDS immobilized solid-phase redox mediators and their role during bioelectricity generation and RR2 decolorization in air-cathode single-chamber microbial fuel cells
Bioelectrochemistry
Claudia M Martinez, Xiuping Zhu, Bruce E Logan
2017 The application of immobilized redox mediators (RMs) in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is an emerging technology for electricity generation with simultaneous azo dye decolorization due to facilitated electrons transfer from bacteria to anodes and azo dyes. The use of immobilized RMs avoids the requirement of their continuous dosing in MFCs, which has been the main limitation for practical applications. Two strategies of anthraquinones-2,6-disulphonic salt (AQDS) immobilization, AQDS immobilized with polyvinyl alcohol particles and AQDS immobilized on anodes by electropolymerization, were evaluated and compared to achieve simultaneous reactive red 2 (RR2) dye reduction and bioelectricity generation. The AQDS immobilized by electropolymerization showed the highest power density (816 ± 2 mW/m2) and extent of RR2 decolorization (89 ± 0.6%). This power density is one of the highest values yet achieved in the presence of a recalcitrant pollutant, suggesting that immobilization was important for enabling current generation in the presence of RR2.
Simultaneous nitrogen and organics removal using membrane aeration and effluent ultrafiltration in an anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactor
Bioresource Technology
Yaoli Ye, Pascal E Saikaly, BE Logan
2017 Dissolved methane and a lack of nutrient removal are two concerns for treatment of wastewater using anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactors (AFMBRs). Membrane aerators were integrated into an AFMBR to form an aeration membrane fluidized bed membrane bioreactor (AeMFMBR) capable of simultaneous removal of organic matter and ammonia without production of dissolved methane. Good effluent quality was obtained with no detectable suspended solids, 93 ± 5% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal to 14 ± 11 mg/L, and 74 ± 8% of total ammonia (TA) removal to 12 ± 3 mg-N/L for domestic wastewater (COD of 193 ± 23 mg/L and TA of 49 ± 5 mg-N/L) treatment. Nitrate and nitrite concentrations were always low...
Enrichment of extremophilic exoelectrogens in microbial electrolysis cells using Red Sea brine pools as inocula
Bioresource Technology
Noura A Shehab, Juan F Ortiz-Medina, Krishna P Katuri, Ananda Rao Hari, Gary Amy, Bruce E Logan, Pascal E Saikaly
2017 Applying microbial electrochemical technologies for the treatment of highly saline or thermophilic solutions is challenging due to the lack of proper inocula to enrich for efficient exoelectrogens. Brine pools from three different locations (Valdivia, Atlantis II and Kebrit) in the Red Sea were investigated as potential inocula sources for enriching exoelectrogens in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) under thermophilic (70 °C) and hypersaline (25% salinity) conditions. Of these, only the Valdivia brine pool produced high and consistent current 6.8 ± 2.1 A/m2-anode in MECs operated at a set anode potential of +0.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl (+0.405 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode). These results show that exoelectrogens are present in these extreme environments and can be used to startup MEC under thermophilic and hypersaline conditions. Bacteroides was enriched on the anode of the Valdivia MEC, but it was not detected in the open circuit voltage reactor seeded with the Valdivia brine pool.
Low Energy Desalination Using Battery Electrode Deionization
Environmental Science & Technology Letters
Taeyoung Kim, Christopher A Gorski, Bruce E Logan
2017 New electrochemical technologies that use capacitive or battery electrodes are being developed to minimize energy requirements for desalinating brackish waters. When a pair of electrodes is charged in capacitive deionization (CDI) systems, cations bind to the cathode and anions bind to the anode, but high applied voltages (>1.2 V) result in parasitic reactions and irreversible electrode oxidation. In the battery electrode deionization (BDI) system developed here, two identical copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) battery electrodes were used that release and bind cations, with anion separation occurring via an anion exchange membrane. The system used an applied voltage of 0.6 V, which avoided parasitic reactions, achieved high electrode desalination capacities (up to 100 mg-NaCl/g-electrode, 50 mM NaCl influent), and consumed less energy than CDI. Simultaneous production of desalinated and concentrated solutions in two channels avoided a two-cycle approach needed for CDI. Stacking additional membranes between CuHCF electrodes (up to three anion and two cation exchange membranes) reduced energy consumption to only 0.02 kWh/m3 (approximately an order of magnitude lower than values reported for CDI), for an influent desalination similar to CDI (25 mM decreased to 17 mM). These results show that BDI could be effective as a very low energy method for brackish water desalination.
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