Investigation on Microbial Fuel Cells Fabricated from Recyclable Materials for Energy Generation and Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) have gained focus due to their diversity in operating conditions & substrates for the generation of sustainable green energy. In the present study, novel MFC has been fabricated using the recyclable aluminum can as air-cathode and graphite rod as anode for the treatment of domestic wastewater and simultaneous power generation. Three different substrate (COD) concentrations, high (>800 mg.L⁻¹), medium (250 mg.L⁻¹ - 800 mg.L⁻¹) and low (<250 mg.L⁻¹) were used. The maximum COD removal efficiencies, voltage generation, power densities were found to be 80%, 0.71 V, and 304.46 mW.m⁻² respectively in high strength wastewater setup. In both medium and low strength wastewater setups, after 288 hours, the COD was reduced below 50 mg.L⁻¹ thus limiting the electricity generation substantially. Setup with low-strength wastewater produced a maximum CE (%) of 13.80. Overall results showed that although high-strength wastewater produced better and maximum power densities, medium and low-strength wastewater setups were more consistent in energy generation throughout the experiment.

Key findings

• ▸High-strength wastewater produced better power densities but medium and low-strength wastewater setups were more consistent in energy generation.
• ▸Maximum COD removal efficiencies were achieved in high-strength wastewater setup.
• ▸Low-strength wastewater setup produced a maximum CE (%) of 13.80.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.46488/nept.2021.v20i04.017

Journal

Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

Year

2021