Abstract
Microbial fuel cells are bioelectrochemical devices that use exoelectrogenic biofilms to convert organic matter into electric energy. Recent research of microbial fuel cells has occurred because of their potential to perform energy net-positive degradation and transformation of wastewater constituents. However, most studies have focused on small-scale () batch systems with simple and homogenous feedstocks such as acetate. These studies are useful for identification of isolated variables in a controlled environment, but the system architectures are not scaleable to wastewater treatment applications and the feedstocks do not reflect the heterogeneity of real domestic wastewater. The emerging research evaluating scaled-up microbial fuel cells operating with domestic wastewater substrate has described new and different biofilm characteristics and associated transformations other than those seen in bench studies. Scale-up of wastewater microbial fuel cells presents challenges including feedstock variability, changing environmental conditions, and biofouling. To advise the design of pilot-scale systems, this review discusses process stream selection and system architecture with the aim to maximize net energy benefit, defined as the sum of treatment energy savings and direct energy recovery.
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Acknowledgments
D.C. Water at Blue Plains supported the preparation of this manuscript via financial support to Aaron Leininger, Wing-Mei Ko, and Birthe V. Kjellerup.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 5 • May 2019
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©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 6, 2018
Accepted: Nov 7, 2018
Published online: Mar 12, 2019
Published in print: May 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Aug 12, 2019
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