Microbial Fuel Cell for Generation of Bioelectricity via Treatment of Biowaste
Supervisor: Dr. Nahid Sanzida, Assistant Professor, ChE, BUET
ABSTRACT
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) reflects a mechanism for simultaneous waste treatment and electricity generation biologically. MFC is a bioreactor that converts the energy stored in chemical bonds in organic compounds directly into current by catalytic reactions of microorganisms through their metabolism under anaerobic conditions. In this work manure and wastewater from food industry are treated in laboratory scale MFC to study the extent of COD removal by generating electricity. The performance of the fuel cell was observed by using different types of electrode material, different types of electrolyte and different salt bridges with the presence and absence of aeration and nutrients, with a view to determining the most efficient combination to produce viable amount of current through the treatment of waste to descend the pollution load and determining the most efficient combination . The notable results attained in the experiments of this Thesis (ChE 400) project are 185.8 μA current with 757.4 mV voltage gain providing 53% COD removal .The results show that microbial fuel cells are promising greener threshold of renewable energy to curb global energy crisis and environmental degradation.