Performance Analysis of Separators in Dual-Chambered Microbial Fuel Cell and Treatment of Combined Industrial Effluent of South Gujarat

Abstract

India being the developing country faces lots of issues related to energy crisis. Increased population rate leads to generation of various types of wastes and associated treatment problems. Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) provide new opportunities for the sustainable production of energy from biodegradable, reduced compounds present in wastewater. MFC is a bio-electro-chemical process leading to generation of voltage difference between two electrodes by capable microbes, carrying out oxidation of substrate. In this study, combined wastewater produced by various industries of South Gujarat was investigated as an alternative to pure substrates for generation of electricity. The bacterial culture, isolated from wastewater collected from Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETPs) of South Gujarat region, identified as Escherichia coli, was used for oxidation of substrates in MFC run under laboratory conditions. This study evaluated and compared the performance of MFC with two different separators, salt bridge and proton exchange membranes in terms of voltage production in dual-chambered system. The use of proton exchange membrane as separator was found to be superior as compared to salt bridge in terms of voltage generation but they were less cost effective. The use of anionic and cationic exchange membrane resulted in production of power density up to 119.4 and 200.6 mW/m2, respectively, in MFC with synthetic wastewater, while the MFC connected with salt bridge produced 148.76 mW/m2 of consistent power density. The organism could reduce COD by 35.72 % from effluent of CETP, Pandesara, South Gujarat and could produce open-circuit voltage of 0.72 V and power density of 200.6 mW/m2 where salt bridge was used as separator. The study indicates the potential of such MFC for treatment of CETP wastewater after process optimization.