Enhancement of pollutants removal from real sewage by embedding microbial fuel cell in anaerobic–anoxic–oxic wastewater treatment process

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Developing an economical biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal technology with high efficiency has become a research priority in current sewage treatment procedures. In order to solve the problems within the anaerobic–anoxic–oxic ( A 2 /O) process, including substrates competition and high energy consumption, a microbial fuel cell ( MFC ) was embedded in the A 2 /O process to enhance the efficiencies of removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, along with electricity production . RESULTS Three A 2 /O reactors, one with an embedded MFC , were set up, and nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies and electricity generation were investigated. At the stage of stable operation, the chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal efficiencies of the MFC‐A 2 /O reactor, compared with the control, were increased by 15.9%, 9.3% and 1.4% on average, respectively. The average output power density of the MFC was 14.3 ± 1.4 mW m −3 and the internal resistance was 6000 Ω. Grey relational analysis was applied to study the most significant operational parameter of the A 2 /O process affecting electricity production of the MFC . CONCLUSIONS This research proved that nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency could be improved by embedding an MFC in the A 2 /O process. In addition, the MFC‐A 2 /O reactor can generate electricity continuously. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Key findings

• ▸Nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies were improved in the A2/O process with MFC embedding.
• ▸Electricity generation was achieved in the MFC-embedded A2/O process.
• ▸The MFC-embedded A2/O process showed potential for economical biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1002/jctb.4138

Journal

Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology

Year

2013