scholarly journals Microbial Fuel Cell with Ni–Co Cathode Powered with Yeast Wastewater

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Włodarczyk ◽  
Barbara Włodarczyk

Wastewater originating from the yeast industry is characterized by high concentration of pollutants that need to be reduced before the sludge can be applied, for instance, for fertilization of croplands. As a result of the special requirements associated with the characteristics of this production, huge amounts of wastewater are generated. A microbial fuel cell (MFC) forms a device that can apply wastewater as a fuel. MFC is capable of performing two functions at the same time: wastewater treatment and electricity production. The function of MFC is the production of electricity during bacterial digestion (wastewater treatment). This paper analyzes the possibility of applying yeast wastewater to play the function of a MFC (with Ni–Co cathode). The study was conducted on industrial wastewater from a sewage treatment plant in a factory that processes yeast sewage. The Ni–Co alloy was prepared by application of electrochemical method on a mesh electrode. The results demonstrated that the use of MFC coupled with a Ni–Co cathode led to a reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 90% during a period that was similar to the time taken for reduction in COD in a reactor with aeration. The power obtained in the MFC was 6.1 mW, whereas the volume of energy obtained during the operation of the cell (20 days) was 1.27 Wh. Although these values are small, the study found that this process can offer an additional level of wastewater treatment as a huge amount of sewage is generated in the process. This would provide an initial reduction in COD (and save the energy needed to aerate wastewater) as well as offer the means to generate electricity.

Catalysts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł P. Włodarczyk ◽  
Barbara Włodarczyk

The possibility of wastewater treatment and electricity production using a microbial fuel cell with Cu–B alloy as the cathode catalyst is presented in this paper. Our research covered the catalyst preparation; measurements of the electroless potential of electrodes with the Cu–B catalyst, measurements of the influence of anodic charge on the catalytic activity of the Cu–B alloy, electricity production in a microbial fuel cell (with a Cu–B cathode), and a comparison of changes in the concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4+, and NO3– in three reactors: one excluding aeration, one with aeration, and during microbial fuel cell operation (with a Cu–B cathode). During the experiments, electricity production equal to 0.21–0.35 mA·cm−2 was obtained. The use of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) with Cu–B offers a similar reduction time for COD to that resulting from the application of aeration. The measured reduction of NH4+ was unchanged when compared with cases employing MFCs, and it was found that effectiveness of about 90% can be achieved for NO3– reduction. From the results of this study, we conclude that Cu–B can be employed to play the role of a cathode catalyst in applications of microbial fuel cells employed for wastewater treatment and the production of electricity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuejia Chen ◽  
Junqiu Jiang ◽  
Qingliang Zhao

The effect of sludge freezing/thawing on its disintegration and subsequent use as substrate in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) was investigated to enhance organic matter degradation and electricity generation. Experimental results indicated that long freezing time (more than 48 h) was effective in disintegrating the sludge collected from the secondary sedimentation tank of a wastewater treatment plant. Freezing/thawing pretreatment could enhance the degradation of total chemical oxygen demand (COD) and electricity generation in MFC due to the higher concentration of soluble COD and ammonium nitrogen available in the pretreated sludge. The removal efficiency of total COD was increased from 25.3% (raw sludge as substrate) to 66.2% and the maximum power output was increased from 8.9 (raw sludge as substrate) to 10.2 W/m3 in MFC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-151
Author(s):  
Peter Lukac ◽  
Lubos Jurik

Abstract:Phosphorus is a major substance that is needed especially for agricultural production or for the industry. At the same time it is an important component of wastewater. At present, the waste management priority is recycling and this requirement is also transferred to wastewater treatment plants. Substances in wastewater can be recovered and utilized. In Europe (in Germany and Austria already legally binding), access to phosphorus-containing sewage treatment is changing. This paper dealt with the issue of phosphorus on the sewage treatment plant in Nitra. There are several industrial areas in Nitra where record major producers in phosphorus production in sewage. The new wastewater treatment plant is built as a mechanicalbiological wastewater treatment plant with simultaneous nitrification and denitrification, sludge regeneration, an anaerobic zone for biological phosphorus removal at the beginning of the process and chemical phosphorus precipitation. The sludge management is anaerobic sludge stabilization with heating and mechanical dewatering of stabilized sludge and gas management. The aim of the work was to document the phosphorus balance in all parts of the wastewater treatment plant - from the inflow of raw water to the outflow of purified water and the production of excess sludge. Balancing quantities in the wastewater treatment plant treatment processes provide information where efficient phosphorus recovery could be possible. The mean daily value of P tot is approximately 122.3 kg/day of these two sources. The mean daily value of P tot is approximately 122.3 kg/day of these two sources. There are also two outflows - drainage of cleaned water to the recipient - the river Nitra - 9.9 kg Ptot/day and Ptot content in sewage sludge - about 120.3 kg Ptot/day - total 130.2 kg Ptot/day.


2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 1101-1106
Author(s):  
Pichiah Saravanan ◽  
K. Pakshirajan ◽  
P. K. Saha

An indigenous mixed culture of microorganisms, isolated from a sewage treatment plant, was investigated for its potential to simultaneously degrade phenol and m-cresol during its growth in batch shake flasks. 22 full factorial designs with the two substrates as the factors, at two different levels and two different initial concentration ranges, were employed to carry out the biodegradation experiments. For complete utilisation of phenol and m-cresol, the culture took a minimum duration of 21 hrs at their low concentration of 100 mg/L each, and a maximum duration of 187 hrs at high concentration of 600 mg/L each in the multisubstrate system. The biodegradation results also showed that the presence of phenol in low concentration range (100–300 mg/L did not inhibit m-cresol biodegradation; on the other hand, presence of m-cresol inhibited phenol biodegradation by the culture. Moreover, irrespective of the concentrations used, phenol was degraded preferentially and earlier than m-cresol. During the culture growth, a lag phase was observed above a combined concentration of 500 mg/L i.e., 200 mg/L m-cresol and 300 mg/L of phenol and above). Statistical analysis of the specific growth rate of the culture in the multisubstrate system was also performed in the form of ANOVA and Student ‘t’ test, which gave good interpretation in terms of main and interaction effects of the substrates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Md. Abdul Halim ◽  
Md. Owaleur Rahman ◽  
Mohammad Ibrahim ◽  
Rituparna Kundu ◽  
Biplob Kumar Biswas

Finding sustainable alternative energy resources and treating wastewater are the two most important issues that need to be solved. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has demonstrated a tremendous potential in bioelectricity generation with wastewater treatment. Since wastewater can be used as a source of electrolyte for the MFC, the salient point of this study was to investigate the effect of pH on bioelectricity production using various biomass feed (wastewater and river water) as the anolyte in a dual-chambered MFC. Maximum extents of power density (1459.02 mW·m−2), current density (1288.9 mA·m−2), and voltage (1132 mV) were obtained at pH 8 by using Bhairab river water as a feedstock in the MFC. A substantial extent of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal (94%) as well as coulombic efficiency (41.7%) was also achieved in the same chamber at pH 8. The overall performance of the MFC, in terms of bioelectricity generation, COD removal, and coulombic efficiency, indicates a plausible utilization of the MFC for wastewater treatment as well as bioelectricity production.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3976
Author(s):  
Barbara Włodarczyk ◽  
Paweł P. Włodarczyk

Research related to measurements of electricity production was combined with parallel wastewater parameter reduction in a membrane-less microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC) fed with industry process wastewater (from a yeast factory). Electrodes with Ni–Co and Cu–B catalysts were used as cathodes. A carbon electrode (carbon cloth) was used as a reference due to its widespread use. It was demonstrated that all analyzed electrodes could be employed as cathodes in ML-MFC fed with process wastewater from yeast production. Electricity measurements during ML-MFC operations indicated that power (6.19 mW) and current density (0.38 mA·cm−2) were the highest for Ni–Co electrodes. In addition, during the exploitation of ML-MFC, it was recorded that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal per time for all types of electrodes was similar to the duration of COD decrease in the conditions for wastewater aeration. However, the COD reduction curve for aeration took the most favorable course. The concentration of NH4+ in ML-MFC remained virtually constant throughout the measurement period, whereas NO3− levels indicated almost complete removal (with a minimum increase in the last days of cell exploitation).


REAKTOR ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Tania Surya Utami ◽  
Rita Arbianti ◽  
M Mariana ◽  
Nathania Dwi Karina ◽  
Vifki Leondo

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology is highly prospective to be developed because it could be utilized as the alternative electricity sources and simultaneously as the wastewater treatment unit using microorganism as catalyst. Industrial Tempe wastewater has the potential to be used as MFC substrate since it still contains high nutrition for microbe and could pollute the environment if it disposed before being processed first. This study focused on investigating the effect of selective mixed culture addition and biofilm formation on the electricity production and the wastewater treatment aspects with tubular single chamber membranless reactor and industrial Tempe wastewater substrate. The result showed that, with the addition of selective mixed culture, the optimum electricity production obtained with addition of 1 ml gram-negative bacteria with increase in electricity production up to 92.14% and average voltage of 17.91 mV, while the optimum decreased levels of COD and BOD obtained with addition of 5 ml gram-negative bacteria which are 29.32% and 51.32%. On the biofilm formation experiment, optimum electricity production obtained from biofilm formation time for 14 days with increase in electricity production up to 10-folds and average voltage of 30.52 mV, while the optimum decreased levels of COD and BOD obtained from biofilm formation time for 7 days which are 18.2% and 35.9%.Keywords : biofilm, Microbial Fuel Cell, selective mixed culture, Tempe wastewater, tubular reactor


2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana Urbano Santos ◽  
Taís Rondello Bonatti ◽  
Romeu Cantusio Neto ◽  
Regina Maura Bueno Franco

Giardia and Cryptosporidium have caused several outbreaks of gastroenteritis in humans associated with drinking water. Contaminated sewage effluents are recognized as a potential source of waterborne protozoa. Due to the lack of studies about the occurrence of these parasites in sewage samples in Brazil, we compared the efficiency of two procedures for concentrating cysts and oocysts in activated sludge samples of one sewage treatment plant. For this, the samples were submitted to i) concentration by the ether clarification procedure (ECP) and to ii) purification by sucrose flotation method (SFM) and aliquots of the pellets were examined by immunofluorescence. Giardia cysts were present in all samples (100.0%; n = 8) when using ECP and kit 1 reagents, while kit 2 resulted in six positive samples (85.7%; n = 7). As for SFM, cysts were detected in 75.0% and 100.0% of these samples (for kit 1 and 2, respectively). Regarding Cryptosporidium, two samples (25.0%; kit 1 and 28.5% for kit 2) were detected positive by using ECP, while for SFM, only one sample (examined by kit 1) was positive (12.5%). The results of the control trial revealed Giardia and Cryptosporidium recovery efficiency rates for ECP of 54.5% and 9.6%, while SFM was 10.5% and 3.2%, respectively. Considering the high concentration detected, a previous evaluation of the activated sludge before its application in agriculture is recommended and with some improvement, ECP would be an appropriate simple technique for protozoa detection in sewage samples.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Xu ◽  
Yaqian Zhao ◽  
Tongyue Wang ◽  
Ranbin Liu ◽  
Fei Gao

To improve the sustainability of constructed wetlands (CWs), a novel tiered wetland system integrated with a microbial fuel cell (MFC) was developed in this study. Compared to the single stage CW, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was improved from 83.2% to 88.7%. More significantly, this tiered system significantly enhanced total nitrogen removal efficiency (an increase from 53.1% to 75.4%). In terms of MFC integration, a gradually decreased performance in electricity production was observed during its 3 months of operation (the voltage dropped from nearly 600 mV to less than 300 mV), which resulted in a reduction of power density from around 2 W/m3 to less than 0.5 W/m3. The deterioration in performance of the air-cathode is the main reason behind this, since the electrode potential of the cathode under open circuit reduced from 348.5 mV to 49.5 mV while the anode potential kept constant at around −400 mV. However, in spite of its electrical performance reduction, it was proved that MFC integration enhanced COD removal and the nitrification process. Further work is needed to improve the stability and feasibility of this new system.


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