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Researchers derived a simple relationship to determine if Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) can achieve energy-neutral wastewater treatment, based on electrical energy requirements, Coulombic Efficiency, and cell voltage.

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What they did

System
MFC

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Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have recently achieved energy-positive wastewater treatment at pilot scale. Despite these achievements, there is still a limited understanding as to whether all wastewaters contain sufficient amounts of energy and, if so, whether MFCs can capture a sufficient amount of energy to offset electrical energy requirements in the wastewater treatment process. Currently, there are no tools or methods available that can determine whether an MFC can be energy-neutral a priori. To address this, we derived a simple relationship by setting the electrical energy requirements of a wastewater treatment facility equal to the net energy output of the MFC, such that the resulting expression describes the minimum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal needed to achieve energy-neutral treatment. The resulting equation is simply a function of electrical energy requirements, Coulombic Efficiency, and cell voltage. This work provides the first ever quantitative method for determining if the MFCs are feasible to achieve energy-neutral treatment for a given wastewater and what level of performance is needed.

Key findings

  • MFCs can achieve energy-positive wastewater treatment at pilot scale, but there is limited understanding of energy availability in wastewaters.
  • A new method is proposed to determine if MFCs can be energy-neutral for a given wastewater, based on COD removal, electrical energy requirements, and cell performance.
  • The method provides a quantitative approach to evaluate the feasibility of energy-neutral treatment for MFCs.

Keywords

Microbial fuel cellWastewaterChemical energySewage treatmentProcess engineeringEnergy recovery

Identifiers

DOI
10.3390/w10030243
Journal
Water
Year
2018