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Electricity generation and treatment of paper recycling wastewater using a microbial fuel cell

  • Environmental Biotechnology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Increased interest in sustainable agriculture and bio-based industries requires that we find more energy-efficient methods for treating cellulose-containing wastewaters. We examined the effectiveness of simultaneous electricity production and treatment of a paper recycling plant wastewater using microbial fuel cells. Treatment efficiency was limited by wastewater conductivity. When a 50 mM phosphate buffer solution (PBS, 5.9 mS/cm) was added to the wastewater, power densities reached 501 ± 20 mW/m2, with a coulombic efficiency of 16 ± 2%. There was efficient removal of soluble organic matter, with 73 ± 1% removed based on soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and only slightly greater total removal (76 ± 4%) based on total COD (TCOD) over a 500-h batch cycle. Cellulose was nearly completely removed (96 ± 1%) during treatment. Further increasing the conductivity (100 mM PBS) increased power to 672 ± 27 mW/m2. In contrast, only 144 ± 7 mW/m2 was produced using an unamended wastewater (0.8 mS/cm) with TCOD, SCOD, and cellulose removals of 29 ± 1%, 51 ± 2%, and 16 ± 1% (350-h batch cycle). These results demonstrate limitations to treatment efficiencies with actual wastewaters caused by solution conductivity compared to laboratory experiments under more optimal conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Farzaneh Rezaei, James R. Zuhlke, David Jones, and Elodie Lalaurette for help with wastewater sampling and analysis. This work was supported by an I-99 Micro Industry Research Grant by the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the American Eagle Paper Mills, and NREL contract RFH-7-77623-01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Biological Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Liping Huang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Liping Huang & Bruce E. Logan

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  1. Liping Huang
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  2. Bruce E. Logan
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Correspondence to Bruce E. Logan.

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Huang, L., Logan, B.E. Electricity generation and treatment of paper recycling wastewater using a microbial fuel cell. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 80, 349–355 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1546-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1546-7

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