Effects of pre‐treated sludge on sludge stabilization and electricity generation in microbial fuel cell

Abstract

In this study, based on the advantage of having high organic content of sludge both sludge treatment and electricity generation in the microbial fuel cell were investigated. The hydrolysis step of anaerobic digestion which is known as rate‐limiting step was tried to accelerate with the pre‐treatment methods such as Fenton and thermal/alkaline for sludge stabilization in the microbial fuel cell. The chemical oxygen demand and organic matter removal were 53% and 64% in the anaerobic chamber of the microbial fuel cell fed with raw sludge, respectively. In the microbial fuel cell fed with pre‐treated sludge using Fenton Process, these removal efficiencies were found to be 59% and 60%, respectively, while in thermal/alkaline microbial fuel cells were 83.3% and 85%, respectively. The current densities in microbial fuel cells fed with raw sludge, Fenton process sludge and thermal/alkaline sludge were 0.002, 0.221 and 38 mA/cm2, respectively. As a result, it can be concluded that, the microbial fuel cell fed with pre‐treated sludge can be used for both the sludge treatment and the electricity generation by improving the decomposition of organic matter and accelerating the rate‐limiting step in the anaerobic chamber.