Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a recent biotechnology that can simultaneously produce electricity and treat wastewater. As the nature of industrial wastewater is very complex, and it may contain a variety of substrates—such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, etc.—previous investigations dealt with treatment of individual pollutants in MFCs; the potential of acetic acid, sucrose, albumin, blood, and their mixture has rarely been reported. Hence, the current investigation explored the contribution of each substrate, both separately and in mixture. The voltage generation potential, current, and power density of five different substrates—namely, acetic acid, sucrose, albumin, blood, and a mixture of all of the substrates—was tested in a dual-chambered, anaerobic MFC operated at 35 °C. The reaction time of the anaerobic batch mode MFC was 24 h, and each substrate was treated for 7 runs under the same conditions. The dual-chambered MFC consisted of anode and cathode chambers; the anode chamber contained the biocatalyst (sludge), while the cathode chamber contained the oxidizing material (KMnO4). The maximum voltage of 769 mV was generated by acetic acid, while its corresponding values of current and power density were 7.69 mA and 347.85 mW, respectively. Similarly, being a simple and readily oxidizable substrate, acetic acid exhibited the highest COD removal efficiency (85%) and highest Coulombic efficiency (72%) per run. The anode accepted the highest number of electrons (0.078 mmol/L) when acetic acid was used as a substrate. The voltage, current, and power density generated were found to be directly proportional to COD concentration. The least voltage (61 mV), current (0.61 mA), and power density (2.18 mW) were observed when blood was treated in the MFC. Further research should be focused on testing the interaction of two or more substrates simultaneously in the MFC.
Highlights
With the increasing demands of fossil fuels, some non-conventional energy sources should be explored
When the acetic acid concentration was increased from 50 mg/L to 1000 mg/L, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency increased from 55% to 85% (Figure 2)
The current investigation involved the testing of various represented substrates belonging to carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in an microbial fuel cells (MFCs), to test their potential for voltage generation
Summary
With the increasing demands of fossil fuels, some non-conventional energy sources should be explored. Research was conducted to study the effect of different types and concentrations of substrates on the performance of anaerobic microbial fuel cells [13]. The MFCs were fed with various types of substrates, including acetate, glucose, and sucrose; the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration was fixed to 1000 mg/L. It was concluded that the greatest COD removal of 82% and a power density of 121.39 ± 2.12 mW m−2 were obtained in the MFC that was connected to an external resistance of 220 Ω, using sucrose as an energy source [14]. Wastewater from fish markets, with high blood and protein content, was treated using an anaerobic microbial fuel cell [15]. Seafood industry wastewater was treated using a microbial fuel cell under saline conditions. In view of the presence of various compounds in the industrial wastewater, the present investigation aimed to evaluate the selected carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, blood, and their mixture in an MFC treating synthetic wastewater
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