Enhanced bioelectricity harvesting in microbial fuel cells treating food waste leachate produced from biohydrogen fermentation.
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) treating the food waste leachate produced from biohydrogen fermentation were examined to enhance power generation and energy recovery. In batch mode, the maximum voltage production was 0.56 V and the power density reached 1540 mW/m(2). The maximum Coulombic efficiency (CEmax) and energy efficiency (EE) in the batch mode were calculated to be 88.8% and 18.8%, respectively. When the organic loading rate in sequencing batch mode varied from 0.75 to 6.2 g COD/L-d (under CEmax), the maximum power density reached 769.2 mW/m(2) in OLR of 3.1 g COD/L-d, whereas higher energy recovery (CE=52.6%, 0.346 Wh/g CODrem) was achieved at 1.51 g COD/L-d. The results demonstrate that readily biodegradable substrates in biohydrogen fermentation can be effectively used for the enhanced bioelectricity harvesting of MFCs and a MFC coupled with biohydrogen fermentation is of great benefit on higher electricity generation and energy efficiency.
Department of Environmental Engineering, Korea National University of Transportation, Chungju 380-702, Republic of Korea.
Jeongdong
J
Choi
Department of Civil Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yhahn@ynu.ac.kr.
Youngho
Y
Ahn
D061249:Batch Cell Culture Techniques; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D004560:Electricity; D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000032:analysis; D005285:Fermentation; D005502:Food; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012995:Solubility; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D006859:Hydrogen
Bioelectricity; Biohydrogen fermentation; Food waste; Microbial fuel cells; Power density