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Local fruit wastes driven benthic microbial fuel cell: a sustainable approach to toxic metal removal and bioelectricity generation

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Abstract

The present work focused on the utilization of three local wastes, i.e., rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), langsat (Lansium parasiticum), and mango (Mangifera indica) wastes, as organic substrates in a benthic microbial fuel cell (BMFC) to reduce the cadmium and lead concentrations from synthetic water. Out of the three wastes, the mango waste promoted a maximum current density (87.71 mA/m2) along with 78% and 80% removal efficiencies for Cd2+ and Pb2+, respectively. The bacterial identification proved that Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter, and Citrobacter were responsible for metal removal and energy generation. In the present work, the BMFC mechanism, current challenges, and future recommendations are also enclosed.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia) under the Research Grant 304/PKIMIA/6501153/E128.

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Mohamad Nasir Mohamad Ibrahim and Khalid Umar: Conceptualization. Asim Ali Yaqoob: Methodology, writing-original draft preparation, and visualization. Amira Suriaty Yaakop: Electromicrobiology investigation. Claudia Guerrero–Barajas: Discussion of the results, revision of drafts, and English editing of the manuscript. Mohamad Nasir Mohamad Ibrahim and Khalid Umar: Supervision and funding acquisition. This article has been read and approved by all listed authors.

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Correspondence to Mohamad Nasir Mohamad Ibrahim or Khalid Umar.

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Yaqoob, A.A., Guerrero–Barajas, C., Ibrahim, M.N.M. et al. Local fruit wastes driven benthic microbial fuel cell: a sustainable approach to toxic metal removal and bioelectricity generation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 32913–32928 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17444-z

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