Coupling microbial fuel cells with electrocoagulation cells to form an integrated system for wastewater treatment

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and electrocoagulation cells (ECCs) are two emerging technologies in the treatment of wastewater. The integration between MFCs and ECCs has not been reported yet. This work studied the ability to couple MFCs with an ECC to form an integrated system for wastewater treatment. Two types of wastewater were examined: synthetic wastewater containing a mixture of glucose and soluble starch, and real municipal wastewater. A series of MFCs could provide sufficient energy for the electrocoagulation process. The results showed that the removal efficiencies of COD, TDS, and TSS were 95.4%, 88.4%, and 93.8%, respectively, for synthetic wastewater, while these values were 83.7%, 57.5%, and 85.8%, respectively, for real wastewater. The energy harvested from the MFCs to ECCs when using synthetic wastewater was more than that harvested using real wastewater. The capital cost of the integrated system is high using MFCs and ECCs, but it will significantly reduce the operational cost compared to ECCs.