Industrial Scale-Up Variability and Life Cycle Assessment of Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

In the instantaneous global industrialisation, there has been an increase in the generalised waste, one of the major pollutants of wastewater. There should be advancements in the existing wastewater treatment technologies to cater for the current water demands. Wastewater treatment requires the oxidation and reduction of organic and drug molecules. Conventional wastewater technologies are expensive for such degradation, and the treatment efficiency is inadequate per the current demands. Hence microbial fuel cells, which are affordable, multi-applicability systems, should be considered for wastewater treatment technologies. This study analyses various country- and industry-wise wastewater production to demonstrate microbial fuel cell treatment technology requirements. According to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), this review also thoroughly discusses the Life Cycle Assessment of various types of Microbial Fuel Cells in order to observe which microbial fuel cells could be applied for different levels of wastewater accumulated geologically as well as industrially. For a thorough treatment of wastewater through MFCs, the review also economically analysed the microbial fuel cells both component-wise and unit-wise, especially towards scale-up. A comprehensive socioeconomic and technological perspective has also been portrayed in order to showcase the need to transition from conventional wastewater treatment technologies towards microbial fuel cells.