Abstract
The development of microbial fuel cell (MFC) makes it possible to generate clean electricity as well as remove pollutants from wastewater. Extensive studies on MFC have focused on structural design and performance optimization, and tremendous advances have been made in these fields. However, there is still a lack of systematic analysis on biocatalysts used in MFCs, especially when it comes to pollutant removal and simultaneous energy recovery. In this review, we aim to provide an update on MFC-based wastewater treatment and energy harvesting research, and analyze various biocatalysts used in MFCs and their underlying mechanisms in pollutant removal as well as energy recovery from wastewater. Lastly, we highlight key future research areas that will further our understanding in improving MFC performance for simultaneous wastewater treatment and sustainable energy harvesting.
Highlights
Modern society is burdened by the exhaustion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution, and needs technological inventions to supply renewable energy and clean water
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been reported to treat a wide range of wastewater and are capable of converting the energy contained in wastewater directly into electricity and useful chemicals like H2, H2O2, CH4, etc.[2,3]
This review describes the role of MFC's microbiome in the degradation of organic matter, nitrogen compounds, and removal of phosphorous along with the action mechanisms
Summary
Modern society is burdened by the exhaustion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution, and needs technological inventions to supply renewable energy and clean water. It was reported that modi cation of electrode with graphene oxide can signi cantly improve MFC power density.[43] The substrate is another vital factor impacting biocatalyst activity and the proper functioning of the MFC system.[44,45] The type of substrates can affect the biological properties and the enrichment of bacterial community structure of biocatalysts in MFC.[46] The different substrates may trigger a speci c microbial metabolism mechanism which affects the metabolism of organic and electronic transfer process .[47] For example, Sotres et al in 201948 showed changes in the microbial community structure of biocatalyst and MFC performance when the MFCs fed was replaced with synthetic wastewater or pig slurry as substrate.[30,35,49] An earlier report by Tian et al in 2017,50 used varied concentrations of potato pulp wastewater as substrate of MFC to generate electricity. Anode: carbon cloth, cathode: platinised titanium (Pt/Ti) plate Anode: carbon felt with photocatalyst, cathode: air-cathode
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