Bioelectricity Generation from Wastewaters in Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

The study investigated bioelectricity generation from three types of wastewaters including artificial (AW), buffered brewery (BW) and buffered canteen (CW), in double chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentrations of influent were varied in the range of 125 - 1000 mg L-1. Influent pH and operation temperature were fixed at 7 and 30oC. 0.35 mL min -1 wastewater was fed into a half-cell anodic chamber, while 5 mL min-1 oxygen-saturated distilled water was fed into a half-cell cathodic chamber. The circuit resistance was fixed at 10 ohms. The results showed that maximum current output obtained from AW, BW and CW with the initial BOD concentration of 1000 mg L -1 were 0.92, 0.78 and 0.70 mA, respectively. The currents were directly proportional to the BOD concentrations in the influent for all wastewaters. The maximum BOD removal of AW, BW and CW was 90, 65 and 75%, respectively.