Effect of Different Mediators on Bio-Energy Generation and Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment in an Air-Cathode Microbial Fuel Cell-Adsorption System

2021 ◽  
Vol 411 ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
Ivy Ai Wei Tan ◽  
J.R. Selvanathan ◽  
M.O. Abdullah ◽  
N. Abdul Wahab ◽  
D. Kanakaraju

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) discharged without treatment into watercourses can pollute the water source. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has gained high attention as a green technology of converting organic wastewater into bio-energy. As an approach to overcome the limitations of the existing POME treatment methods, air-cathode MFC-Adsorption system is introduced as an innovative technology to treat POME and generate bio-electricity simultaneously. However, the use of conventional MFC with proton exchange membrane in large scale applications is restricted by the high cost and low power generation. Addition of mediator in MFC is essential in order to increase the electron transfer efficiency, hence enhancing the system performance. This study therefore aims to investigate the effect of different type of mediators i.e. congo red (CR), crystal violet (CV) and methylene blue (MB) on the performance of an affordable air-cathode MFC-Adsorption system made from earthen pot with POME as the substrate. The addition of different mediators altered the pH of the MFC-Adsorption system, in which more alkaline system showed better performance. The voltage generated in the system with CR, CV and MB mediator was 120.58 mV, 168.63 mV and 189.25 mV whereas the current generated was 2.41 mA, 3.37 mA and 3.79 mA, respectively. The power density of 290.79 mW/m3, 568.72 mW/m3 and 716.31 mW/m3 was produced in the MFC-Adsorption system with CR, CV and MB mediator, respectively. The highest POME treatment efficiency was achieved in MFC-Adsorption system with MB mediator, which resulted in biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, turbidity and ammoniacal nitrogen removal of 75.3%, 84.8%, 91.5%, 86.1% and 23.31%, respectively. Overall, the air-cathode MFC-Adsorption system with addition of MB mediator was feasible for POME treatment and simultaneous bio-energy generation.

2017 ◽  
Vol 245 ◽  
pp. 916-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sze Pin Tan ◽  
Hong Feng Kong ◽  
Mohammed J.K. Bashir ◽  
Po Kim Lo ◽  
Chii-Dong Ho ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 997 ◽  
pp. 139-149
Author(s):  
Yong Yin Sia ◽  
Ivy Ai Wei Tan ◽  
Mohammad Omar Abdullah

Palm oil processing is a multi-stage operation which generates large amount of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Due to its potential to cause environmental pollution, POME must be treated prior to discharge. Electrocoagulation (EC), adsorption (AD), combined EC and AD, and EC integrated with AD have demonstrated great potential to remove various organic and inorganic pollutants from wastewater. Up to date, no study has been found on POME treatment using EC-AD hybrid process. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of applying EC-AD hybrid process as an alternative treatment for POME. The EC-AD hybrid process achieved higher removal of total suspended solid (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour as compared to EC and AD stand-alone processes. The EC-AD hybrid process reduced 79% of TSS, 44% of COD and 89% of colour from POME. The adsorption kinetics of TSS, COD and colour were best interpreted using pseudo-second-order model, which indicated that the adsorption rate was mainly controlled by chemisorption. Overall, the EC-AD hybrid process could be recommended as an alternative treatment for POME.


RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 4798-4805 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Amirul Islam ◽  
Ahasanul Karim ◽  
Chee Wai Woon ◽  
Baranitharan Ethiraj ◽  
Chin Kui Cheng ◽  
...  

Simultaneous power generation and wastewater treatment in the single chamber air cathode microbial fuel cell have been enhanced by introducing wild-type Klebsiella variicola as an efficient inoculum for the anode operated with palm oil mill effluent.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jhon Armedi Pinem ◽  
Imanuel Tumanggor ◽  
Edy Saputra

The rapid development of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production has led to an increase in the production of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as well. POME will cause problems in the environment because contains high contaminants. This study aims to investigate the effect of the coagulant Polyaluminium Chloride (PAC) variations and the membrane’s operating pressure on the POME treatment process using the nanofiltration membrane (NF) with the coagulation-flocculation process as pre-treatment. The PAC was used in the coagulation-flocculation process with variations in concentration (5.0; 5.5; 6.0; 6.5; 7.0 g/L). The process was completed by a rapid stirring of 200 rpm for 5 minutes, followed with slow stirring at 60 rpm for 15 minutes and settling time for 30 minutes. The process of membrane nanofiltration was carried out for 60 minutes with variations in operating pressure (8.0; 9.0; and 10 bars). In each treatment process, effluent quality testing was carried out with Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solid (TSS) and oil/fat as parameters. In addition, an analysis of permeate fluxes and rejection of NF membrane was also carried out. The results of the analysis suggested that the best coagulant doses are 6.0 g/L with the reduction percentage of BOD, COD, TSS and oil/fat at 78.85%; 68.57%; 92.77% and 92.31% respectively. The highest percentage of NF membrane rejection was found at a pressure of 10 bar, which is equal to 94.71%; 94.86%; 97.92% and 95% respectively for BOD, COD, TSS and oil/fat with a flux value of 7.16 L/m2.hours.


Author(s):  
Man Djun Lee ◽  
Pui San Lee

This chapter presents the study on pollutant removal efficiency in palm oil mill effluent using chitosan and polyglutamic acid (PGA). Up until today, palm oil mill effluent (POME) has been considered one of the significant sources of environmental pollution. The characteristics of POME include contaminating the source of drinking water, which is also harmful to the aquatic ecosystem by creating a highly acidic environment or causing eutrophication. With increasing public awareness of environmental pollution, it creates the need to address this issue. Both chitosan and PGA are non-polluting food-based anionic and biodegradable biopolymers that are environmentally friendly in wastewater treatment. The critical parameter to determine the effectiveness of pollutants removal is chemical oxygen demand, colour, and total suspended solids. In this aspect, this chapter also discussed some of the significant findings done in previous studies to provide proper understandings and implications on this topic.


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