Investigating the Performance of Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell (SCMFC) as Sustainable- Innovative Technique for Electricity Generation and Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are considered as an economical and sustainable technology for various applications. This study has designed four single-chamber SCMFCs that composed of graphite plates as electrodes and used wastewater as a substrate for microorganisms. In order to evaluate the performance of SCMFC, the experiments were executed in a batch mode over 18 days at various types of salt bridge. Four salt bridges are used namely (KCl, NaCl, KNO3, and Cotton Rope). It was found that KCl generated a maximum voltage of 989 mv. The following results were obtained for wastewater investigated parameters: COD = 94%, PO4 = 88.4%, NO3 = 88%, TSS = 80%, and Fe = 76%, respectively at 1 M KCl. The experiment was then carried out using different values of KCl (1, 1.5, 2, 3 M). It was found that at a molar concentration of 1.5, 1422 mv of maximum voltage has been generated. Results for wastewater treatment demonstrated that COD of 81%, PO4 of 78.2%, NO3 of 79%, TSS of 80%, and Fe of 84%.