Co‐substrate‐fed microbial fuel cell for enhanced power generation and removal of groundwater contaminants

Abstract

AbstractA microbial fuel cell (MFC) could be adopted as one of the biotechnological new approaches for removing groundwater contaminants of petroleum hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene, and simultaneously producing electricity. In this study, we have compared performances of single‐chamber MFCs in terms of power density and removal efficiency when operated under two different feeding conditions. In one experiment, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and phenol (BTEP) were individually fed to the MFC reactor without acetate. In another experiment, acetate was added as a co‐substrate. When operated in a batch mode, both cases showed almost complete BTEP removal efficiency while the former case produced negligible power density of ca. 1 mW/m2 and the latter case 0.13–0.44 W/m2. These results imply that MFCs are promising technology for removing petroleum contaminants and for simultaneously producing electricity when suitable organic substances are provided.