Electricity and disinfectant production from wastewater: Microbial Fuel Cell as a self-powered electrolyser

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Summary In this study, sewage was simultaneously treated and used to produce electricity using a two‐chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) with carbon cloth electrodes having platinum coating on the cathode. Porous carbon electrodes are found to be the more suitable for MFCs as the power generation value is high when compared with nonporous surfaces and has a significant impact on the development of stable biofilms on the anode. Wastewater having an initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 830 ± 20 mg/L had a removal efficiency from the MFC of around 78%. The initial pH of sewage in the range of 7.69 ± 0.2 saw a shift towards neutral (around 7.4) and biochemical oxygen demand ranging from 300 ± 20 mg/L in the system decreased up to 175 ± 15 mg/L. The cell open circuit voltage peaked at 800 mV. Current and power density was calculated using an external resistance (of 250 Ω) followed by normalizing to the anode surface area. This bioelectricity generation is attributed to the decomposition of the organic matter and is reported to peak at 0.54 mA/m2 and 204 ± 0.38 mW/m2, respectively. Power generation has faster COD removal rates with external resistors compared with open circuit analysis, and MFCs can be effective to support the wastewater treatment infrastructure while at the same time generate electrical power as a value added product.

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