Electricity generation from young landfill leachate in a microbial fuel cell with a new electrode material

• Published in: Bioprocess and biosystems engineering 2013-04, Vol.36 (4), p.399-405
• Main Authors: Özkaya, Bestamin, Cetinkaya, Afşin Yusuf, Cakmakci, Mehmet, Karadağ, Doğan, Sahinkaya, Erkan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodegradation, Environmental; Bioelectric Energy Sources; Bioelectricity; Bioengineering; Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electricity; Electrodes; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Food Science; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Landfills; Leachates; Load distribution; Organic loading; Original Paper; Refuse Disposal; Retention time; Titanium; Titanium dioxide; Waste disposal sites; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
• ISSN: 1615-7591; 1615-7605
• DOI: 10.1007/s00449-012-0796-z

This study aims at evaluating the performance of a two-chambered continuously fed microbial fuel cell with new Ti–TiO 2 electrodes for bioelectricity generation from young landfill leachate at varying strength of wastewater (1–50 COD g/L) and hydraulic retention time (HRT, 0.25–2 days). The COD removal efficiency in the MFC increased with time and reached 45 % at full-strength leachate (50 g/L COD) feeding. The current generation increased with increasing leachate strength and decreasing HRT up to organic loading rate of 100 g COD/L/day. The maximum current density throughout the study was 11 A/m 2 at HRT of 0.5 day and organic loading rate of 67 g COD/L/day. Coulombic efficiency (CE) decreased from 57 % at feed COD concentration of 1 g/L to less than 1 % when feed COD concentration was 50 g/L. Increase in OLR resulted in increase in power output but decrease in CE.