Electricity generation from organic fraction of municipal solid wastes in tubular microbial fuel cell

• Published in: Separation and purification technology 2015-12, Vol.156, p.502-511
• Main Authors: Karluvalı, Arda, Köroğlu, Emre O., Manav, Neslihan, Çetinkaya, Afşin Y., Özkaya, Bestami
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacteria; Bacteroides; Biochemical fuel cells; Clostridium; Current density; Microbial fuel cell; Microorganisms; Municipal solid waste; Oxygen demand; Reactors; Searching; Sustainability; Temperature; Tubular Nafion
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2015.10.042

•OFMSW could be effectively used for bioelectricity generation with a tubular MFC.•Current and temperature has exponential dependency in mesophilic temperature range.•Effect of temperature on soluble chemical oxygen demand removal was slight.•MFC has the potential to be alternative for anaerobic digestion in colder regions. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has the potential to be an alternative pretreatment method to divert organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMWS) from landfilling while sustainable, clean and renewable energy can be obtained during organic matter removal. Thus searching for optimal conditions to achieve more energy and organic removal is critical for the practical application of MFCs. Herein, an approach investigating the temperature effect on reactor performance and waste treatment was adopted to address the question using a tubular MFC. In this study, MFC was operated in fed-batch mode and the reactor temperature was gradually increased with 5° increments at mesophilic range from 20°C to 35°C. Due to temperature rise, maximum current density increased from 197.7mA/m2 to 355.4mA/m2 and maximum power density production tripled from 14.8mW/m2 to 47.6mW/m2 at 100Ω external resistor. Unlike current and power yield, coulombic efficiency (CE) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal efficiency followed a slightly escalating trend with temperature rise in mesophilic range. Based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis, the bacterial strain were identified as Geobacter, which play an important role in transferring electrons to the electrodes, and also Bacteroides and Clostridium, which contribute to fermentation.