Energy recovery efficiency of Low Cost Microbial Fuel Cell using Domestic Wastewater

Abstract

Microbial fuel cell is one of the emerging technologies which utilize wastewater to generate electricity with the help of action of microorganisms. The real interest in microbial fuel cells has tremendously grown in recent years. It converts chemical reaction into electrical energy and helps in the recovery of energy from wastewater. The main objective of this study was to enhance the electricity production and simultaneously treat the wastewater. The lab scale model consists of double chamber microbial fuel cell, i.e., two separate chambers one with salt water and the other with wastewater representing anode and cathode, a salt bridge acting as proton exchange membrane; electrodes from batteries are used for this study. In this, the proton exchange and electron transfer occurs after the redox reaction. The microbes in the sludge or wastewater are responsible for the release of electrons. These electrons tend to move through the external circuit, producing electricity. For maintaining electrical neutrality salt bridge is used. The dual chamber microbial fuel cell used in this experiment produced an average voltage of 0.37mv for a wastewater volume of one liter. This set up is done on small scale, but with further and more detailed study it can be installed in industries that produce Microbial Waste water as a by-product to generate electricity and reuse the waste water for other processes after treatment.