Biochar derived from post brewing tea waste as efficient anodic catalyst for tailoring the oxidation reactions in clay microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Abstract Rising demand of tea promotes the generation of massive amounts of tea waste causing serious environmental issues. The leftover tea granules ( Camellia sinensis ) after extraction of water-soluble components as a hot drink denoted as post brewing tea waste (PBTW), which were effetively used to synthesize activated carbon (AC-PBTW). Synthesized AC-PBTW was applied on carbon felt to increase anode surafce area of microbial fuel cell (MFC) for supporting the better colonization of electrogenic bacteria. Three identical clayware MFCs were used in which MFC-1 worked as a control, in MFC-2 raw PBTW and in MFC-3 synthesized AC-PBTW was coated on the carbon felt anode. MFC-3 achieved the highest current density of 848.48 mA/m 2 , followed by MFC-1 and MFC-2 with 204 mW/m 2 and 194 mW/m 2 , respectively, with corresponding current densities of 488.34 mA/m 2 and 476.68 mA/m 2 . Such developed anode catalyst showed enhanced electrocatalytic activities for anodic oxidation and electron transfer. Power density of MFC increased significantly by 1.5 times after using low-cost activated carbon derived from organic tea waste; hence, it can be recommended to be used in MFC as an anode catalyst to improve electricity generation.

Key findings

• ▸The use of activated carbon derived from post-brewing tea waste (AC-PBTW) as an anodic catalyst increased the current density to 848.48 mA/m².
• ▸The power density of the microbial fuel cell increased by 1.5 times after using the low-cost AC-PBTW.
• ▸The electrocatalytic activities for anodic oxidation and electron transfer were enhanced with the use of AC-PBTW as an anodic catalyst.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.21203/rs.3.rs-3939507/v1

Journal

Research Square

Year

2024