Investigation and modeling of wastewater treatment, electricity generation and coulombic efficiency by new design nested cylindrical dual chamber microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their potential in the biological treatment of waste and wastewater, as well as in energy conversion technologies. In this study, a reactor was designed using polypropylene material. The design positioned the cathode chamber inside the anode chamber to reduce diffusion resistance by minimizing the distance between the two chambers. Additionally, composite anode/cathode electrodes were developed using PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). As a result of the study, values for maximum voltage, maximum power density, and COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal efficiency were determined. The coulombic efficiency was also calculated and found to be 11.49%. pH and temperature values were monitored and these parameters remained within a consistent range throughout the study. The findings showed that this reactor design achieved comparable electricity generation potential and effective COD removal efficiency. Finally, voltage and COD removal values were used in Dizayn Expert 7.0.0 (Stat-Ease Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) for full factorial experimental modeling to validate the experimental results. Overall, the study is expected to contribute significantly to the literature on reactor designs in microbial fuel cell research.