Effect of pH and temperature on mediator-less Microbial Fuel Cells for waste water degradation and sustainable bioenergy production

Abstract

The unwanted and unmanaged waste disposal in the industrial sector thereby generating polluted waste water is one of the most critical issues in current scenario. This issue is being proactively addressed by several sectors to clean out the waste water without generation of any other secondary toxicants. However, application of microbes for such functions not only facilitates the sludge and waste water removal but also facilitates in sustainable generation of electricity in a carbon zero process. On this instance the holistic approach of microbial fuel cells has enormous efficiency. In the current study the pilot scale optimization of different types of microbes and their inoculum volume was being done for highest efficiency in biodegradation of waste water and generation of maximum capacity of electricity. The study deals with waste water sample collected from sewage treatment plants in Jaipur city (Rajasthan) and its treatment procedure through microbial fuel cell technology in optimized manner. The results depicted that amongst all the four bacterial isolates, the bacterial strains, AKS2 strain was found to be the potent one at 15% of the bacterial inoculum volume. Similarly, amongst the three set temperature parameters (25°C, 35°C & 45°C), 35°C temperature and pH 7 was found to be the most effective one for generation of higher Voltage (1.943±0.064V) and Current (7.793±0.007mA) and maximum rate of waste degradation (91.25± 0.03%). The current study can be utilised as an optimised pilot scale protocol for waste water bioremediation along with bioelectricity generation.

URN:NBN:sciencein.jist.2024.v12.726