Among the new sources of clean energy, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gained lots of attractions in recent years.  MFC is a device that directly converts the metabolic power of microorganisms into electricity using electrochemical technology. It is a promising green method to treat organic effluents and simultaneously produce electricity. In this study, electricity generation integrated with organic substrate biodegradation was investigated in a continuous two-chamber membrane-less and mediator-less microbial fuel cell. The performance of MFC was evaluated to treat domestic wastewater using alternatively actual aerobic sludge and anaerobic sludge. The average initial concentrations of COD and BOD in the actual wastewater were 350 and 200 mg/L, respectively. Results revealed that COD and BOD removal efficiencies were up to 80% and 72%, respectively using the anaerobic sludge. The effect of the inoculums type was evaluated under variable external resistance. Maximum power density of 21mV/m2 was observed with the anaerobic sludge.

Sustainable approach for simultaneous wastewater treatment and bio-energy production in mediator-less microbial fuel cell

244th National Meeting (2012)

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