Constructed Wetland-Microbial Fuel Cells for Sustainable Greywater Treatment
Ignacio Araneda, Natalia F. Tapia, Katherine Lizama Allende, Ignacio T. Vargas
AI summary
82% confidenceThis study demonstrates the feasibility of constructed wetland-microbial fuel cells (CW-MFCs) planted with Phragmites australis for simultaneous greywater treatment and energy recovery. Over 152 days of batch operation, CW-MFCs achieved 91.7% soluble COD removal and 56.3% phosphate removal with comparable performance to conventional constructed wetlands. Potentiostatic control of the anode at −150 mV vs. Ag/AgCl substantially enhanced power generation to 719.57 mW/m³, approximately 20-fold higher than unassisted operation, establishing CW-MFCs as a promising sustainable technology for decentralized greywater management.
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Representative tubular / upflow MFC — matched on the paper’s reported configuration, not its exact geometry.
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Open in lab →What they did
- System
- MFC
- Substrate
- synthetic mixture
- Inoculum
- mixed culture from wastewater treatment plant primary effluent
What worked
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Abstract
Greywater reuse through decentralized and low-cost treatment systems emerges as an opportunity to tackle the existing demand for water. In recent years, constructed wetlands (CW) systems and microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have emerged as attractive technologies for sustainable wastewater treatment. In this study, constructed wetland microbial fuel cells (CW-MFCs) planted with Phragmites australis were tested to evaluate the potential of combining these two systems for synthetic greywater treatment and energy recovery. Open (CW) and closed circuit (CW-MFCs) reactors were operated for 152 days to evaluate the effect of energy recovery on the removal of soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD), nutrients and total suspended solids (TSS). Results indicate no significant differences for sCOD and phosphate removal efficiencies. CW-MFCs and CW reactors presented sCOD removal efficiency of 91.7 ± 5.1% and 90 ± 10% and phosphate removal efficiencies of 56.3 ± 4.4% and 61.5 ± 3.5%, respectively. Nitrate removal efficiencies were higher in CW: 99.5 ± 1% versus 86.5 ± 7.1% in CW-MFCs, respectively. Energy generation reached a maximum power density of 33.52 ± 7.87 mW m⁻³ and 719.57 ± 67.67 mW m⁻³ at a poised anode potential of −150 mV vs. Ag/AgCl. Thus, our results suggest that the incorporation of MFC systems into constructed wetlands does allow energy recovery while providing effective greywater treatment.
Keywords
Identifiers
- Journal
- Water
- Year
- 2018