Performance of Two-Chambered Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) at Different pH Anode Microenvironment Using Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as Substrate

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) represents a new method for producing electricity from the oxidation of organic matter. In addition, MFC offers an effective wastewater treatment. The feasibility of using POME wastewater as a substrate was investigated through a two-chambered MFC operated in batch mode for 12 days. The performance of MFC was evaluated under three different anode pH microenvironments of acidic (pH 4), neutral (pH 7) and alkaline (pH 8). Results of experiments indicated that the MFC reactor was able to generate electricity and treat POME wastewater that acted as substrate for MFC. The performance of MFC was found to be dependent on the anode pH microenvironments. Higher power density was observed at neutral condition compared to acidic and alkaline conditions. Furthermore, significant reductions in chemical oxygen demand (COD) in anode chambers were found due to the changes of pH in anode microenvironment. This indicated that effective wastewater treatment of POME in MFC batch experiments. In conclusion, MFC provides an alternative, sustainability and effective method to generate electricity and effectively treat wastewater.

Start-Up Operation and Hydraulic Retention Time Selectivity for Palm Oil Mill Wastewater at Mesophilic Temperature in Anaerobic Suspended Growth Closed Bioreactor

The start-up operation and hydraulic retention time (HRT) selectivity of anaerobic degradation for palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastewater was carried out in an anaerobic bioreactor. HRT between 35 and 5 days were investigated. The start-up process for the anaerobic degradation of POME wastewater was found to be completed after 40 days of operation. This study also recommended that the anaerobic degradation of POME wastewater should be operated at the HRT between 35 and 10 days without acid risk. The performance of anaerobic bioreactor could reach 90.55% - 87.55% chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction, 0.06 - 0.40 ratio between volatile fatty acid (VFA) and alkalinity (Alk), -368.2 mV to-445.80 mV of oxygen reduction potential (ORP) and 9.08 - 37.2 liters of biogas production, respectively.