The present study investigated the influence of packing material characteristics on the electricity generation performance, treatment efficiency and degradation mechanism of petroleum pollutants over microbial fuel cells (MFCs) using petroleum refinery wastewater (PRW) as fuel. The granule graphite (GG) and granule-activated carbon (GAC) were used to MFCs as packing materials, respectively. GG-...

Anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactors (AFMBRs) have been mainly developed as a post-treatment process to produce high quality effluent with very low energy consumption. The performance of an AFMBR was examined using the effluent from a microbial fuel cell (MFC) treating domestic wastewater, as a function of AFMBR hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and organic matter loading rates. The MFC-AFMB...

With the unprecedented deterioration of environmental quality, rapid recognition of toxic compounds is paramount for performing in situ real-time monitoring. Although several analytical techniques based on electrochemistry or biosensors have been developed for the detection of toxic compounds, most of them are time-consuming, inaccurate, or cumbersome for practical applications. More recently, ...

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bioreactor that converts chemical energy in the chemical bonds in organic compounds to electrical energy through catalytic reactions of microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. It has been known for many years that it is possible to generate electricity directly by using bacteria to break down organic substrates. The recent energy crisis has reinvigorated inte...

Graphene is an emerging material with superior physical and chemical properties, which can benefit the development of microbial fuel cells (MFC) in several aspects. Graphene-based anodes can enhance MFC performance with increased electron transfer efficiency, higher specific surface area and more active microbe-electrode-electrolyte interaction. For cathodic processes, oxygen reduction reaction...

Electricity generation was examined from proteins and a protein-rich wastewater using a single chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC). The maximum power densities achieved were 354 +/- 10 mW/m2 using bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 269 +/- 14 mW/m2 using peptone (1100 mg/L BSA and 300 mg/L peptone). The recovery of organic matter as electricity, defined as the Coulombic efficiency (CE), was comparabl...

The materials that are used to make electrodes and their internal structures significantly affect microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance. In this study, we describe a carbon nanotube (CNT)–sponge composite prepared by coating a sponge with CNTs. Compared to the CNT-coated textile electrodes evaluated in prior studies, CNT–sponge electrodes had lower internal resistance, greater stability, more t...

This study investigated the mechanism and key factors influencing concurrent phosphorus (P) recovery and energy generation in microbial fuel cells (MFC) during wastewater treatment. Using a mediator-less dual chamber microbial fuel cell operated for 120 days; P was shown to precipitate as struvite when ammonium and magnesium chloride solutions were added to the cathode chamber. Monitoring data ...

The anode electrode material is a crucial factor for the overall performance of a microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this study, a plain carbon paper modified with the CNT/MnO2 nanocomposite was used as the anode for the MFC and a mixed culture inoculum was used as the biocatalyst. The modified anode showed better electrochemical performance than that of plain carbon paper, and Brunauer Emmett Telle...