Performance of photopolymerized active layer forward osmosis membrane in the osmotic microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Osmotic microbial fuel cell (OMFC) is evolved by substituting the proton exchange membrane (PEM) by forward osmosis (FO) membrane in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). This study tried to mitigate the dependency on commercial FO membranes to enhance the mutual benefits between MFC and FO. We investigated the performance of photo-polymerized active layer FO membranes in OMFC with feed as a synthetic wastewater and draw solution as 35 g/L NaCl solution and compared by commercial HTI cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane. Poly (ethylene glycol) phenyl ether acrylate (PPEA) monomer and methacrylic acid (MAA) monomer was used in different ratio i.e., 100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 0/100 for preparation of active layer on our earlier work’s optimized substrate. Effect of the concentration of MAA had a significant effect on ion exchange capacity, water uptake, and oxygen and proton mass transfer. Among all prepared membranes, the 75/25 FO membrane showed the highest power density of 237.23 ± 0.90 mW/m 2 and average water flux 0.95 ± 0.71 LMH. • Photo-polymerized active layer FO membranes were investigated in OMFC. • PPEA and MAA were used as monomers to prepared FO membranes. • The concentration of MAA was found a significant parameter. • 75/25 FO membrane showed highest performance than CTA FO membrane.