Electricity generation and wastewater treatment using Microbial fuel cell obtained from different types of wastewater

Abstract

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy during substrate oxidation with the aid of microorganisms that act as biocatalyst. It is the advancement of science that aims at utilizing the oxidizing potential of bacteria for wastewater treatment and production of bio-electricity. The rapid increase of urbanization and industrialization in the world generates high wastewater which causes sanitation, hygienic problems and environmental pollution in surface and ground water bodies and it raises the demand of energy significantly. Therefor to solve these problems MFC is best alternative for both electricity generation and wastewater treatment. The aim of this study was to generate electricity while treating the wastewater and to determine the most efficient wastewater source that can generate the highest rate of electricity production by using MFCs (Microbial fuel cells). While generating electricity in a lab-scale MFC for slaughterhouse, domestic and brewery wastewater the production efficiency of the MCFs were measured periodically and the samples were characterized for their composition using standard methods. The highest rate of voltage generation was achieved when the MFC was operated with slaughterhouse wastewater (0.98V), followed by domestic wastewater (0.86 V) and brewery wastewater (0.76V) for 3 days HRT with 1.33liters of organic loading rate. However, based on the study of the graph pattern generated, slaughterhouse wastewater and brewery wastewater provided the most consistent record in terms of electricity generation. The anaerobic treatment system was best treatment in higher voltage and methane gas production than aerobic and direct feed treatment system. The highest efficiency of COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal was achieved by slaughterhouse wastewater (77.6 %), followed by brewery wastewater (73.01%). The aerobic treatment system has shown the highest COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal efficiency (77.6%) than anaerobic and direct feed treatment systems. The results of this study conclude that it is possible to generate electricity using MFC from wastewater. As a recommendation Perform similar studies in continuous flow with MFCs