Molasses is by-product from sugar beet process,and is commonly used as raw material in ethanol production. However, the molasses wastewater still possesses high level of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dark color. The molasses wastewater is treated and decolorized difficultly at low temperature. Microbial fuel cell is a promising technology for wastewater treatment and bioenergy generation. In this study, the single-chamber MFCs with brush anode were operated for bioelectricity generation and molasses wastewater treatment. The MFCs were enriched at 25 oC. The maximum voltages of 460 mV (2000mg/L COD) and 430mV (5000mg/L COD) were obtained at 15 oC and 10 oC respectively. A maximum power density of 700�10mW/m2 was achieved when the molasses wastewater with chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 5000 mg/L at room temperature. The COD removal efficiency was higher than 80%, while the anode biofilm could efficiently consume the substrate. In addition, the removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) is larger than 70%. This study demonstrated that bioelectricity can be generated from molasses wastewater at low temperature.

Electricity generation during molasses wastewater treatment at low temperature

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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