Abstract
The enormous environmental problems that arise from organic waste have increased due to the significant population increase worldwide. Microbial fuel cells provide a novel solution for the use of waste as fuel for electricity generation. In this investigation, onion waste was used, and managed to generate maximum peaks of 4.459 ± 0.0608 mA and 0.991 ± 0.02 V of current and voltage, respectively. The conductivity values increased rapidly to 179,987 ± 2859 mS/cm, while the optimal pH in which the most significant current was generated was 6968 ± 0.286, and the ° Brix values decreased rapidly due to the degradation of organic matter. The microbial fuel cells showed a low internal resistance (154,389 ± 5228 Ω), with a power density of 595.69 ± 15.05 mW/cm2 at a current density of 6.02 A/cm2; these values are higher than those reported by other authors in the literature. The diffractogram spectra of the onion debris from FTIR show a decrease in the most intense peaks, compared to the initial ones with the final ones. It was possible to identify the species Pseudomona eruginosa, Acinetobacter bereziniae, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Yarrowia lipolytica adhered to the anode electrode at the end of the monitoring using the molecular technique.
Highlights
In recent decades, the rapid growth of human society has brought with it an increase in pollution, in which organic waste due to the lack of solid waste collection centers is dumped around supply centers [1,2]
Due to the large amounts of waste, many researchers have looked for innovative ways to use it; for example, waste has been used in fertilizers [8], biopolymers [9], biogas generation [10], and bioelectricity [11]
The use of organic waste to generate electricity through microbial fuel cells is being intensively investigated, because it can be used as a fuel to generate electricity and, once depleted, it can further be used for sowing, since the waste is still rich in minerals [12]
Summary
The rapid growth of human society has brought with it an increase in pollution, in which organic waste due to the lack of solid waste collection centers is dumped around supply centers [1,2]. The anodic chamber is customarily in anaerobiosis, and the cathodic chamber is in contact with oxygen [13,14,15] In this sense, Cecconet et al (2018) used agroindustrial waste in their cells, which were made with graphite electrodes, and managed to generate voltage peaks of 637 mV with an external resistance of 20.4 Ω on day 51. Shrestha et al (2016) managed to generate peak voltages of approximately 0.78 V and current densities of 1.504 A/cm in their MFCs [19] These results were attributed to the high concentration of carbohydrates, amino acids, and species with redox activity [20]. Due to the incredible popularity of this vegetable, large amounts of waste are being generated, which is used to flavour food products, especially dairy products such as flavoured cheese, sour cream, or meat products such as processed hams, cold cuts, and meat cans [24,25]
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