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Mild alkaline pretreatment of rice straw enhances its bioelectricity generation in microbial fuel cells, outperforming untreated straw.

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What they did

System
MFC

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Abstract

The dependency on non-renewable fossil fuels as an energy source has drastically increased global temperatures. Their continuous use poses a great threat to the existing energy reserves. Therefore, the energy sector has taken a turn toward developing eco-friendly, sustainable energy generation by using sustainable lignocellulosic wastes, such as rice straw (RS). For lignocellulosic waste to be utilized as an efficient energy source, it needs to be broken down into less complex forms by pretreatment processes, such as alkaline pretreatment using NaOH. Varied NaOH concentrations (0.5%,1.0%,1.5%,2%) for alkaline pretreatment of RS were used for the holocellulose generation. Amongst the four NaOH concentrations tested, RS-1.5% exhibited higher holocellulose generation of 80.1%, whereas 0.5%, 1 5 and 2% pointed 71.9%, 73.8%, and 78.5% holocellulose generation, respectively. Further, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were tested for voltage generation by utilizing holocellulose generated from untreated (RS-0%) and mildly alkaline pretreated RS (RS-1.5%) as a feedstock. The MFC voltage and maximum power generation using RS-0% were 194 mV and 167 mW/m 2 , respectively. With RS-1.5%, the voltage and maximum power generation were 556 mV and 583 mW/m 2 , respectively. The power density of RS-1.5% was three-fold higher than that of RS-0%. The increase in MFC power generation suggests that alkaline pretreatment plays a crucial role in enhancing the overall performance.

Key findings

  • Rice straw pretreated with mild alkaline solution showed improved power density and current density compared to untreated straw.
  • The pretreatment process increased the surface area and porosity of the rice straw, facilitating better bacterial adhesion and activity.
  • The microbial fuel cell with pretreated rice straw as the anode material generated a maximum power density of 123 mW/m², a significant improvement over the untreated straw.

Keywords

Microbial fuel cellRenewable energyElectricity generationRaw materialPulp and paper industryBioenergy

Identifiers

DOI
10.1007/s12088-022-01022-z
PubMed
35974908
Journal
Indian Journal of Microbiology
Year
2022