Microbial electrolysis cells and power‐to‐gas technology – A novel onsite industrial wastewater treatment and CCU arrangement

• Published in: Water and environment journal : WEJ Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 1376 - 1383
• Main Author: Gondal, Irfan Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-11-2021
• Subjects: Accumulators; Alternative energy sources; Carbon; carbon collectors; Climate change; Climate change mitigation; Collectors; Electrolysis; Electrolytic cells; Energy resources; Energy sources; Energy storage; Environmental degradation; Environmental management; hydrogen; Industrial development; Industrial wastes; Industrial wastewater; Industrial wastewater treatment; microbial electrolysis cell; Microorganisms; Natural gas; Power-to-gas; Renewable energy; Renewable resources; Resource management; Sabatier reaction; Solar energy; Substitute natural gas; Sustainable development; Sustainable Development Goals; synthetic natural gas; wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water quality; Water resources
• ISSN: 1747-6585; 1747-6593
• DOI: 10.1111/wej.12721

Industrial development owes its pace to the continued supply of energy; however, this development is also associated with a consequent consumption of water, climate change and environmental degradation. The increased concentration of carbon in the atmosphere and the dwindling clean water resources are posing another potent challenge to the sustained industrial development. The intermittent nature of the renewable energy resources particularly wind and solar energy make their storage difficult. Power‐to‐gas is perceived to solve this issue of storage of renewable energy through the production of synthetic natural gas. Production of economically viable hydrogen gas and carbon collection and utilization (CCU) are two energy‐intensive processes that are essential for the Sabatier reaction in the scheme of power‐to‐gas. This study proposes a novel model that employs low energy consuming microbial electrolysis cell along with carbon collectors for the production of synthetic natural gas through the Sabatier reaction. Renewable energy resources are proposed to power the MEC as well as the carbon collectors. The model uses the wastewater stream as input to the MEC ultimately delivering hydrogen to the Sabatier reactor. A successful model would be able to treat the wastewater, generate energy in the form of SNG, mitigate climate change and contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6, 7, 12, 13 & 14).