Simultaneous electricity generation and sulfide removal via a dual chamber microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have recently been used to alter different sources of substrates to produce bioelectricity. MFCs can also be used for wastewater treatment and electricity generation simultaneously. Sulfur compounds such as sulfides commonly exist in wastewater and organic waste. In this study a dual chamber MFC was constructed for power production. Sulfide was used as the electron donor in the anaerobic anode compartment. A mixed culture of microorganisms was used as an active biocatalyst to convert the substrate into electricity. The obtained experimental results illustrated that the MFC can successfully alter sulfide to elementary sulfur while generating power. The initial concentration of sulfide in the anode compartment was 0.4 g l -1 and it was completely removed after 3 days of MFC operation. The influence of oxygen was examined in the cathode chamber and the cell voltage gradually increased during aeration, reaching 480 mV after 1200 s. Hexacyanoferrate was added to the cathodic solution in different concentrations and its effects were investigated. The maximum generated voltage, power and current density were 988.9145 mV, 346.746 mW.m -2 , 1285.64 mA.m -2 , respectively and they were obtained in the presence of 1.4 g l -1 of mediator.

A review on the effect of proton exchange membranes in microbial fuel cells

“…These small consumer devices managed to operate successfully for the duration of 2 days . Another application of MFCs for waste water treatment (Izadi and Rahimnejad, 2013). Active microorganisms present in the anode compartment can discharge the dual duty of degrading effluent and bioelectricity production.…”

Microbial fuel cell-induced production of fungal laccase to degrade the anthraquinone dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R

“…Typically, MFCs use electrochemically active bacteria that promote organic matter oxidation and convert it into electricity (Peixoto et al 2013;Izadi and Rahimnejad 2014;Jadhav et al 2014). In recent years, this technique was applied in synthetic, domestic and industrial wastewaters (Liu et al 2011).…”

Electricity Generation and Color Removal at Sulfate-Reducing Conditions in Microbial Fuel Cell

“…So far, simulated wastewaters containing diverse types of organic substrates and different kinds of wastewaters ranging from domestic wastewater to brewery wastewater (Wen et al, 2009) have been used as an energy source in MFC (Najafpour et al, 2010;Sharma and Li, 2010;Izadi and Rahimnejad, 2013). Additionally; previous MFC studies showed that the MFC can be also used for the treatment of biorefractory wastewater along with other degradable co-substrates (Su et al, 2013;Yong et al, 2014).…”