Electricity generation from young landfill leachate in a microbial fuel cell with a new electrode material

Abstract

This study aims at evaluating the performance of a two-chambered continuously fed microbial fuel cell with new Ti-TiO₂ electrodes for bioelectricity generation from young landfill leachate at varying strength of wastewater (1-50 COD g/L) and hydraulic retention time (HRT, 0.25-2 days). The COD removal efficiency in the MFC increased with time and reached 45 % at full-strength leachate (50 g/L COD) feeding. The current generation increased with increasing leachate strength and decreasing HRT up to organic loading rate of 100 g COD/L/day. The maximum current density throughout the study was 11 A/m² at HRT of 0.5 day and organic loading rate of 67 g COD/L/day. Coulombic efficiency (CE) decreased from 57 % at feed COD concentration of 1 g/L to less than 1 % when feed COD concentration was 50 g/L. Increase in OLR resulted in increase in power output but decrease in CE.

Bioelectrochemical system for landfill leachate treatment – challenges, opportunities, and recommendations

“…According to Ozkaya, Cetinkaya, Cakmakci, Karadag, and Sahinkaya (2013) and Zhang, Jiao, and Lee (2015a), the removal efficiency of BES for organic matter varies from 40 to 80% in landfill leachate treatment. One of the most prominent challenges in using BES technique is the low bioavailability of landfill leachate which can be improved using proper pretreatment of landfill leachate.…”

Landfill leachate: A promising substrate for microbial fuel cells

“…Landfill leachate affects the quality of ground water due to percolation of leachate into the ground water, in sites near the landfill [23]. Since landfill leachate has a high content of organic and inorganic nutrients, it can be used in MFCs for power generation; this also, simultaneously, treats the WW [15]- [18]. Table I summarizes the maximum OCV achieved from landfill leachate.…”

Leachate treatment using anoxic/oxic-bioelectrochemical reactor with intermittent aeration

“…BES can efficiently remove organic compounds from wastewater within a reasonable time; however, the anaerobic condition in the anode of a BES does not effectively facilitate nitrification reaction [14]. Most prior BES studies focused on simultaneous energy generation and COD removal from landfills leachate, but paid little attention to expend efforts to improve nitrogen removal [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. In these studies, the single-chambered MFC or double-chambered MFC consisting of proton exchange membrane (PEM), catalyst-doped cathode and solutions with electron acceptors were often used.…”