Fe₃O₄-modified carbon cloth electrode for microbial fuel cells from organic wastewaters

Abstract

The organic waste of anaerobic biohydrogen fermentation was used as the feedstock for further treatment. The bacterial contained fermentation waste was the introduced to a double-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) with Fe₃O₄-modified carbon cloth electrode. The main purpose of this study is to produce biohydrogen, reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of organic waste and recover the electric power during waste treatment. The maximal (hydrogen yield) HY of 1.3 mmol H₂/g TVS (total volatile solids) was obtained, and the hydrogen production rate was 25.4 mmol H₂/L/d. The electricity generation in MFC can be obtained after a short acclimatization period of two days. The power generated was found to depend on the organic matter contained in the waste, and the maximum power density of 10 mW/m² (at an open circuit potential of 0.15 V) was obtained. These results pointed to the optimal conditions to enhance the hydrogen yield, energetic yield of MFC, and the COD removal in this newly designed system.

Keywords:

• Biohydrogen
• Carbon cloth
• Fe₃O₄
• Microbial fuel cell
• Chemical oxygen demand
• Open circuit

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support for this work from the National Science Council in Taiwan (Grant no. 99-2632-E-035-001-MY3) and Feng Chia University.

Notes

Presented at the 8th International Conference on Challenges in Environmental Science & Engineering (CESE-2015) 28 September–2 October 2015, Sydney, Australia