Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
Energy Production from Food Industry
Wastewaters Using Bioelectrochemical Cells
Abhijeet P. Borole and Choo Y. Hamilton
Abstract
Conversion of waste and renewable resources to energy using microbial
fuel cells (MFCs) is an upcoming technology for enabling a cleaner and sustainable
environment. This chapter assesses the energy production potential from the US
food industry wastewater resource. It also reports on an experimental study investi-
gating conversion of wastewater from a local milk dairy plant to electricity. An MFC
anode biocatalyst enriched on model sugar and organic acid substrates was used as
the inoculum for the dairy wastewater MFC. The tests were conducted using a two-
chamber MFC with a porous three dimensional anode and a Pt/C air-cathode. Power
densities up to 690 mW/m
2
(54 W/m
3
) were obtained.
Analysis of the food industry wastewater resource indicated that MFCs can poten-
tially recover 2-260 kWh/ton of food processed from wastewaters generated during
food processing, depending on the biological oxygen demand and volume of water
used in the process. A total of 1960 MW of power can potentially be produced
from US milk industry wastewaters alone. Hydrogen is an alternate form of energy
that can be produced using bioelectrochemical cells. Approximately 2-270 m
3
of
hydrogen can be generated per ton of the food processed. Application of MFCs for
treatment of food processing wastewaters requires further investigations into elec-
trode design, materials, liquid flow management, proton transfer, organic loading
and scale-up to enable high power densities at the larger scale. Potential for water
recycle also exists, but requires careful consideration of the microbiological safety
and regulatory aspects and the economic feasibility of the process.
Keywords
Microbial fuel and electrolysis cell
·
Electricity
·
Wastewater resource
·
Hydrogen
·
Power density
The submitted manuscript has been authored by a contractor of the U.S. Government under
contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive,
royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others
to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.
