Energy Generation in Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell from Pure and Mixed Culture Bacteria by Copper Reduction

Abstract

In this study, a single chamber microbial fuel cell (SCMFC) with nano-polypyrrole modified graphite felt as anode- and platinum-coated carbon cloth as cathode was employed to reduce the amount of copper, Cu2+, in synthetic wastewater. The performance of the SCMFC was studied for two inocula, Shewanella putrefaciens and mixed culture. Maximum tolerable concentrations of 50 mg/L and 70 mg/L of copper and power densities of 0.33 W/m2 and 0.304 W/m2 were achieved, respectively, for the pure and mixed cultures. The study shows that microbial tolerance level towards the toxicity of metal strongly influences the MFC performance and the pure culture showed better performance than mixed culture over the Cu toxicity. This study exhibits the possibility of using single chamber microbial fuel cell for treating wastewater containing copper.