Microbial fuel cells: Insight into simultaneous wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation

Abstract

Burgeoning industrialization has escalated the energy demand and amplified the insistence on depleting petroleum-based reservoirs. Subsequently, this has imposed a study to pinpoint renewable alternative sources. Employing renewable resources promotes energy production coupled with environmental sustainability. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have an encouraging role in producing sustainable and viable electrical energy. It transforms chemical energy into electrical energy with the assistance of microorganisms acting as biocatalysts. It is an emerging technology that has the potential to treat wastewater with bioelectricity production simultaneously. However, scaling up this technology is a major challenge as a plethora of technical constraints limits its application in the real world. This review highlights MFC performance in terms of power generation by utilizing various wastewaters as substrate. Moreover, it sheds light on different MFC designs, mechanisms, and parameters affecting MFC performance along with their pros and cons to generate maximum power output. It concludes possible ways to combat its drawbacks and discusses its future prospects.