Microbial Fuel Cells for Wastewater Treatment - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 424

(a)

Influent

(b)

Influent

Clarifier

Solids
contact

Effluent

MFCs

MFCs MBR

Effluent

Waste
sludge

Waste sludge

Recycled
sludge

Air

(c) (d)

Air

Influent

Clarifier Influent

Clarifier

Effluent

MFCs

MFCs Effluent

Anaerobic
tank

Aerobic
tank

Waste
sludge

Waste
sludge

(e)

Influent

Air

Ef fluent

Aerobic
tank

Anaerobic
tank

Clarifer

Fig. 18.6 Schematic diagram of MFCs combined wastewater treatment process: a, b MFC
combined with a solids contact tank or a MBR; c, d MFC submerged into an anaerobic or aerobic
tank of existing wastewater treatment process; e a decentralized wastewater treatment based on
A/O system

80 % of contaminant removal at different organic loading rates (0.19-0.66 kg/m 3 /d).
The power density of MAC MFC reached 380 mW/m 2 . In addition to the pilot scale
MFCs, Ieropoulos et al. ( 2013 ) originally exploited a stack of small ceramic MFCs
(6.25 mL) fed with real urine to power a mobile phone, which was previously
considered impossible.
Therefore, tremendous efforts should be dedicated in terms of utilizing the
voltage from MFCs in the near future. Dewan et al. ( 2014 ) pointed out that
renewable energy sources tend to be applied to power remote sensors, due to the
potential environmental risks and operational cost associated with batteries. More
research is also required to focus on assessment of lifetime, reliability and
renewability, which are of great significance in the process of promoting the MFCs
widespread application.