The influence of organic pollutant load and external resistance on the performance of a solid phase microbial fuel cell fed orange peel wastes

Abstract

AbstractThe degradation of organic matter in marine sediments could be taken advantage of to produce electricity by using a sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) inspired system. A single solid phase microbial fuel cell (SPMFC) in which orange peel wastes were supplemented as a carbon source mixed to marine sediments produced a power of 0.33 mW and a voltage of 0.7 V. By stacking multiple SPMFCs powers of 2.08 mW were generated for a voltage of 4.6 V. The use of dewatered sludge to inoculate the marine sediment improved the SPMFCs' performance. The removal of organic matter in the SPMFC system under closed circuit conditions was very interesting, removal rates were 19%–40% from readily oxidizable organic matter,15 to 35% for loss on ignition and 22%–55% for total organic carbon, indicating the possibility of using these systems to treat solid organic wastes and produce electricity at the same time.