Chapter 22 - Utilization of human waste and animal urine for energy and resource recovery in microbial electrochemical system

Abstract

Microbial electrochemical system (MES) is considered a promising technology by the scientific community due to their greater potential of treating human wastes and animal urine along with the generation of electricity and recovery of resources with negative carbon footprints through anodic microbial catalytic reactions. Even with several challenges such as bio-electrochemical limitations, operating and fabrication costs, the MES has received attention due to the recent advancements in this field. The major issue of eutrophication in the wastewater occurred due to the phosphorus and nitrogen present in the urine source. Valuable byproducts can be recovered as the resource in the form of struvite as a valorization approach with substantial environmental benefits instead of removal through the conventional wastewater treatment systems. In this chapter, the scope, suitability, and challenges in the scale-up approach of utilizing human waste and animal urine for energy and resource recovery through microbial electrochemical systems are discussed. Even with several challenges such as bio-electrochemical limitations, operating and fabrication costs, the MES has drawn consideration due to the recent advancements in this field which may propel this technology to meet the demands in real-world applications.