Performance of A Membrane-Less Air-Cathode Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell in Electricity Generation from Distillery Wastewater

Abstract

Distillery wastewater contains high organic compounds and nutrients suitable for microorganisms in biological processes such as microbial fuel cell (MFC) which converts the chemical energy contained in organic matter into electricity by microorganisms. The bioelectricity production during the treatment of the distillery wastewater was studied using the air-cathode SCMFCs. The distillery wastewater varied concentrations in the range of 125 to 3,000 mg COD L-1 and operated in fed batch mode at 37°C. The results shows that the voltage and current outputs increased with increases in distillery wastewater concentration (0.005-0.055 mA). Greater soluble chemical oxygen demand (CODS) removal (29.5-56.7%) and total solids reduction was obtained up 35%. Indicated that the distillery wastewater can produced bioelectricity and can be treated using the membrane-less, air-cathode SCMFCs.