Microbial fuel cell for landfill leachate treatment

Abstract

Solid waste disposai is a major problem arising due to urbanization and development of the society. Secured landfilling is a scientific practice to manage solid waste for its minimum impact on the environment. However, the leachate generated from the landfill is a major concern to the environment. There are several off-site treatment technologies which are energy and cost-intensive. Additionally, transportation of landfill can cause hazardous effects. Bio-electrochemical treatment technologies such as microbial fuel cell (MFC) have the capability to treat the landfill leachate on-site, along with production of bioelectricity and resource recovery. Vast array of pollutant containing leachate act as potential substrate and its high conductivity helps in the electrochemical reactions of MFC. The unstable load of pollutants contained in landfill leachate causes toxicity, which hampers the performance of MFC. Thus, pre-treatment or dilution of leachate could solve this problem and MFC can be used for landfill leachate efficiently at a secondary stage.