Harvesting of bio-energy from rice washing waste and banana (Musa Paradisiaca L.) peel using microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been created using rice washing wastewater and banana (Musa Paradisiaca L.) peel. This mixture was used as a substrate, and KMnO4 served as a cathode solution in a dual-chamber MFCs designed to produce bio-energy. The reactor was also equipped with a salt bridge as a proton exchange membrane. Substrate variations include white rice extract and banana peel waste in the ratio of 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30. Effective Microorganisms 4 (EM4) was added to each waste mixture combination to examine the most optimum electricity potential. The highest electricity production value was obtained by waste composition of 90:10 by catalyst addition, with a power density of 150.50 mW/m2 in the MFC reactor. MFC technology is proven to reduce COD and BOD levels in waste. At a waste ratio of 90:10, without the addition of EM4, MCF application reduced both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) by 7.954 and 14.084%, respectively. Meanwhile, at the same ratio, MCF application with the addition of EM4 led to COD and BOD reduction by 1.886% and 20.297%, subsequently. This result underlines the potential utilization of MCF to convert household waste into electricity, although more optimation trials were deemed to be necessary.