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Simultaneous bioenergy production and dairy wastewater treatment by microbial fuel cell using Taguchi method: performance & optimization study

  • Himanshu Kachroo , Ravi Shankar EMAIL logo and Prasenjit Mondal EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 27, 2023
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 22 Issue 2

Abstract

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) employs microbial communities as biocatalysts to convert chemical energy from organic substrates to electrical energy. The investigation of MFC incorporated with anaerobic mixed cultures and sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) membrane is of interest for this research due to its competency in generating renewable biological energy and wastewater treatment. Methylene blue was an effective redox mediator in this study. The reactor optimization was performed via the Design of Experiments (DOE) approach using Minitab software. The performance of the batch reactor was optimal with the operating conditions of temperature 30 °C, pH 7, and mediator concentration 250 μM. The contour plots and ANOVA specified that mediator concentration was the most influential parameter that affects MFC performance. MFC fed with 250 μM methylene blue concentration generated a maximum voltage of 0.33 V, current (density) of 4.08 A/m2, power (density) of 1.34 W/m2. The COD removal was 82.4 % at the end of the batch cycle of seven days. The data obtained from the experiments showed that small amounts of a mediator (250 μM) in wastewater elevate the bio-electricity output of the MFC reactor by 1.22 folds.

Keywords: microbial fuel cells; wastewater treatment; Taguchi; bioenergy
Corresponding authors: Ravi Shankar, Department of Chemical Engineering, Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur 273010, Uttar Pradesh, India, E-mail: ; and Prasenjit Mondal, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India, E-mail:

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Author contributions: Himanshu Kachroo- Experimental Study & Manuscript rafting, Ravi Shankar- Writing- drafting & editing, Prasenjit Mondal- Writing -Review & editing.

  3. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

  4. Research funding: Not applicable.

  5. Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

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Received: 2023-05-19
Accepted: 2023-10-12
Published Online: 2023-10-27

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2023-0096
Keywords for this article
microbial fuel cells; wastewater treatment; Taguchi; bioenergy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Spectroscopy electrochemical impedance characterization of membranes electrode assemblies for PEM electrolyzers
  4. Designing superoleophobic and flame retardant coatings from fly ash based on layer-by-layer approach
  5. Simultaneous bioenergy production and dairy wastewater treatment by microbial fuel cell using Taguchi method: performance & optimization study
  6. Influence of zinc oxide and graphene nanoparticles on diesel engine’s emission and vibration while fuelled with waste mango seed oil biodiesel
  7. Modified paddy husk carbon with linked fibrils of FeHO2 using aluminium as the surface regulator for enhanced As (III) removal in fixed bed system
  8. Solar assisted CaCl2 desiccant wheel rotor system for simultaneous cooling and dehumidification operation: experimental and modelling approach
  9. CO2 adsorption behavior of a highly-microporous KOH-activated carbon obtained from rice husk waste: kinetic and equilibrium studies
  10. Powdered activated carbon adsorbent for eosin Y removal: modeling of adsorption isotherm data, thermodynamic and kinetic studies
  11. Experimental studies of a continuous catalytic distillation column from startup to steady state for the production of methyl acetate
  12. pH control under model uncertainties
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