Modified Water Hyacinth Biochar as a Low-Cost Supercapacitor Electrode for Electricity Generation From Pharmaceutical Wastewater

Abstract

The biochar electrode is an alternative low-cost electrode for electricity generation and wastewater treatment by the microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this study, the water hyacinth biochar (WHB) was prepared by pyrolysis at 350ºC and activated by chemical immersion. The activated WHB was integrated with ceramic-separator MFC (CMFC) and used for the pharmaceutical wastewater (containing 100 µg/mL penicillin) treatment and electricity generation. The maximal power output and penicillin removal of 0.032±0.001 W/m2 and 65.12±0.02% were achieved. This study gained new knowledge of using the WHB electrode coupled with the CMFC for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment and electricity generation.