Geo-environmental improvement of sediment by using microbial fuel cell (MFC)

Abstract

In this study, a microbial fuel cell has been designed for the marine sediment to generate bio-electricity and to improve the geo-environmental condition simultaneously. Four different kinds of sediments were used in the laboratory tests to generate the bio-electricity. The acid volatile sulfide (AVS) was measured to verify the improvement of the geo-environment of the marine sediment. The effects of temperature, number of anode and the different conditions of the circuit were evaluated to observe the bio-electricity generation. The amount of voltage value showed almost twice when two anodes were used compared with single anode. Higher temperature showed the higher voltage due to enhanced activity of the bacteria in the higher temperature. Acid volatile sulfide values reduced quickly when the circuit was completed. All the samples showed the decreasing trend of AVS value with time and reached at the 0.2 mg/g dry mud indicating the geo-environmental improvement of the marine sediments.