On-Site Sanitary Wastewater Treatment System Using 720-L Stacked Microbial Fuel Cell: Case Study
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 24, Issue 3
Abstract
Scaling up of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a challenging task and researchers are still struggling to achieve acceptable results when treating real wastewater at the field scale. In this study, a field-scale stacked MFC, consisting of six individual MFCs with a volume of 120 L each, was designed, constructed, and operated for on-site sanitary wastewater treatment. The first time the long term performance evaluation of such large-scale MFC with a total working volume of 720 L, treating actual sewage, is presented in this study. The stacked setup consisted of one hexagonal central chamber surrounded by six peripheral MFCs, MFC-1, MFC-2, MFC-3, MFC-4, MFC-5, and MFC-6. Cathode catalysts, Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 and Sn5Cu84, were used in these stacked field-scale MFCs on carbon felt base material and a competitive performance was observed for both the catalysts. Goethite was used as an anode catalyst over a carbon felt anode for all MFCs. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was observed to be directly related to hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 78.45% ± 19.12% of COD removal efficiency was observed at an HRT of 18 h. However, COD removal efficiency increased to 87.29% ± 7.28% with an increase in HRT to 36 h. Therefore, this stacked MFC system produced a final effluent with a COD of 303 ± 50 mg/L and produced a maximum power of 61 mW, which was used to illuminate the toilet premises at night.
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Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the energy technology research division of NTPC Ltd, Greater Noida, India.
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Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 24 • Issue 3 • July 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 10, 2019
Accepted: Jan 17, 2020
Published online: May 15, 2020
Published in print: Jul 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 15, 2020
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