Ultrafiltration membrane bio‐fuel cell as an energy‐efficient advanced wastewater treatment system

Abstract

Summary A novel anaerobic ultrafiltration membrane bio‐fuel cell (UFBFC) was conceptualized to improve the efficiency of wastewater treatment with a reduced footprint and bioenergy recovery. The system with a working volume of 40 L reached a maximum power density of 23.3 mW/m2 while treating synthetic wastewater with initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 2026 ± 61 mg/L and 19.1 mW/m2 while treating actual fish processing wastewater with initial COD of 1915 ± 63 mg/L. The average COD removal efficiency of UFBFC was found to be almost similar (>97%) for both types of wastewaters showing the efficacy of the system in real‐life applications comparable to the existing treatment systems. The cost‐effective longitudinal vibrational mechanism (0.25 $/kLD of treated wastewater), with a frequency of 0.5 Hz and an amplitude of 8 mm, revealed superior anti‐biofouling ability for ultrafiltration membrane placed inside the anodic chamber of UFBFC than cost‐intensive conventional techniques (117 $/kLD in conventional MBR with aeration). The capacitor‐based power management circuit improved the maximum normalized energy recovery (58 Wh/m3) of UFBFC by over twice compared to UFBFC when operated with external resistance of 100 Ω (24 Wh/m3). The harvested energy by UFBFC with capacitor‐based power management system thus could successfully compensate the operational power requirement of the system, proving its practical field‐scale applications as an energy‐economic advanced wastewater treatment system. Highlights Ultrafiltration membrane bio‐fuel cell (UFBFC) for efficient wastewater treatment Cost‐effective longitudinal vibration technique for reduced membrane biofouling Chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of UFBFC was >97% Capacitor‐based circuit improved normalized energy recovery of UFBFC UFBFC successfully used to treat synthetic as well as fish processing wastewater

Performance Evaluation of Aquaponics-Waste-Based Biochar as a Cathode Catalyst in Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells for Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture Systems

“…Since the wastewater quality was optimal enough and did not require any treatment, synthetic wastewater had to be synthesized (for more accurate analysis) considering the level of contaminants that can occur in actual large-scale aquacultural systems or integrated livestock aquacultural systems. The feed composition is estimated for both the laboratory SMFC reactor and SMFC-assisted integrated poultry-fish culture system using the standard feed composition with 1000 mg/L of COD [16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…The biomass obtained was stored in a sealed container, weighed, and found to be 10 g. Then, it was pyrolyzed in a pyrolysis reactor in an anoxic condition at 400 • C for 2 h with an initial heating rate of 10 • C per minute. The pyrolyzed sample was rewashed with ethanol (15% v/v) and distilled water to filter out the impurities and non-pyrolyzed fraction, then kept in the oven at 60 • C [16,19,25].…”

“…Due to climatic and other environmental parameters, the system's performance may be diminished while being tested in actual field conditions [16][17][18][19][20]. SMFCs have the potential to act as power generators for different water quality, environmental, and even medical sensors, which, in fact, provide multiple advantages for assisting this type of reactor with IMTA systems.…”

Self-Standing Pd-Based Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic CO Oxidation: Do Nanocatalyst Shape and Electrolyte pH Matter?

“…The conversion of gases to value-added products [3,[5][6][7][8] and using green energy sources are the main approaches to mitigate carbon footprint [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Among these, fuel cells operating with organic molecules (i.e., ethanol, glucose, ethylene glycol, and formic acid) [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] are among the most promising roadmaps, due to their lower emissions and green resources, but CO poisoning of their anodes is one of the main barriers precluding commercial usage [15,[22][23][24]. Therefore, it is important to develop electrocatalysts for efficient CO oxidation (CO Oxid ) and also to optimize the oxidation process under different conditions that could allow protecting the anodes of organic fuel cells from poisoning by CO.…”