Generation of Electricity from Pool Wastewater Using Bio-Mass Based Activated Charcoal Electrodes Through Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

Conventionally, we use platinum/palladium as electrodes and Nafion as separator in the microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which are expensive and hazardous in nature. In this research, we employed bio-waste derived activated charcoal electrodes and eco-friendly lab glove separator for assessing the performance of laboratory-scale MFCs. The Activated Charcoals (AC) were synthesized from Palm fibers (Borassus flabellifer), Gooseberry seeds (Ribes grossularia) and Indian-almond (Terminalia catappa) seeds at high-temperature carbonization followed by ZnCl2 activation. The ACs was characterized in terms of pH and ash content. The porous structure and pore size distribution of the carbonized products and ACs were analyzed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, and identified that the ACs possesses more porous structure than their carbonized precursors. We employed pool sludge (inoculums) as anodic solution and potassium permanganate solution as cathodic solution instead of using hazardous potassium ferricyanide solution. Here, we attained the highest voltage output of 0.92 V for the palm fiber-AC electrode based MFC. In this research, we employed cost effective and eco-friendly bio-waste based electrodes, eco-friendly separator, non-hazardous cathodic solution and nutrient-rich inoculums, thus the proposed scheme could be used for fabricating low cost, non-polluting and high performance MFCs.