Energy Generation in Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell from Pure and Mixed Culture Bacteria by Copper Reduction
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RESEARCH ARTICLE-CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Energy Generation in Single Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell from Pure and Mixed Culture Bacteria by Copper Reduction Sumisha Anappara1 · Anju Kanirudhan2 · Srinivas Prabakar3 · Haribabu Krishnan1 Received: 24 April 2020 / Accepted: 23 July 2020 © King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 2020
Abstract In this study, a single chamber microbial fuel cell (SCMFC) with nano-polypyrrole modified graphite felt as anode- and platinum-coated carbon cloth as cathode was employed to reduce the amount of copper, C u2+, in synthetic wastewater. The performance of the SCMFC was studied for two inocula, Shewanella putrefaciens and mixed culture. Maximum tolerable concentrations of 50 mg/L and 70 mg/L of copper and power densities of 0.33 W/m2 and 0.304 W/m2 were achieved, respectively, for the pure and mixed cultures. The study shows that microbial tolerance level towards the toxicity of metal strongly influences the MFC performance and the pure culture showed better performance than mixed culture over the Cu toxicity. This study exhibits the possibility of using single chamber microbial fuel cell for treating wastewater containing copper. Keywords Single chamber MFC · Copper reduction · Shewanella putrefaciens · Mixed culture · Electrode
1 Introduction Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising green technology that generates electrical energy from chemical energy through microbial redox reactions. In various configurations of MFCs, membrane-less SCMFCs form a cost-effective and straightforward system, in which both electrodes are directly exposed to wastewater that is rich in microorganisms [1]. The anodes and cathodes associated with bacterial growth and oxygen reduction reactions, respectively, affect the MFC performance [2]. Various nano-structured materials viz carbon nanotube, conductive polymers, and composite materials have been used to modify MFC electrodes to improve the power output. Conductive polymers including polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (Ppy) possess high electrical conductivity, good thermal stability and biocompatibility [3, 4]. Several researchers have successfully developed a
* Haribabu Krishnan [email protected] 1
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, India
2
Department of Civil Engineering, UKF College of Engineering, Kollam, India
3
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA
nano-conductive polymer and its composite anodes for MFC applications. Recently, MFC applications have been focused on the reduction and removal of heavy metals, which acted as electron acceptors at the cathode, instead of oxygen. The electrochemical reactions involve the reduction of metal ions to less toxic [5]. Li et al. [6] have achieved a maximum power density of 658 ± 6 m W/m2 at 50 mg/l of Fe(III) and 419 ± 4 m W/m2 at 10 mg/l of Cr(VI) with municipal wastewater. Abourached et al. [7] used a mixed bacterial culture originally enriched from sewage sludge which attained a pow
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