Performance of Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell (SCMFC) for biological treatment of tofu wastewater

Abstract

The wastewater of tofu industries consists of organic compounds and in turn, may affect the environment; therefore, a proper wastewater treatment system is needed. Based on its characteristics, biological treatment is a good method to treat tofu wastewater. One of the biological treatment methods that can be used is Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC), which can reduce the pollutant and at the same time generating low-power electricity. This system utilizes microorganisms as a biocatalyst to degrade organic compounds in the wastewater. This study aimed to examine the performance of Single Chamber MFC (SCMFC) to decrease biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the tofu wastewater, as well as to generate electricity. Tofu wastewater was sterilized then filled into the reactor. Microbes that either have been acclimatized or not acclimatized were then added. Bacteria that were used were one of the three consortiums of native microbes of tofu wastewater, namely Escherichia coli, Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, and mixed culture of E. coli and S. fibuligera. Carbon (C) was used as both anode and cathode. We found that the acclimatized mixed culture of E. coli and S. fibuligera showed high BOD5, COD removal after 48 hours at 76.57 and 77.22 %, respectively. It also generated 5.49 mA of current, 757 mV of voltage, and the electrical energy produced was 9.216 x10- 5 kWh. The results suggest that using mixed microorganisms is one of the strategies to improve the electricity generation of MFC. The scale-up of the volume, selection of microorganism cultures, and immobilization could be other strategies for further studies.