MECs experiments were conducted using an applied
voltage of þ0.5 V (duplicate reactors). The first set of MEC tests
were conducted using brushes acclimated to the synthetic
effluent (fermentation effluent inoculum; FEI) or individual
substrates and the same solutions used in MFC tests. A
separate set of MEC tests were also conducted using brushes
acclimated to the synthetic effluent and a single substrate
inoculum (SSI, a combination of equal volumes of solutions
from the MFCs acclimated to individual substrates) instead of
a wastewater inoculum