Improving fermentation industry sludge treatment as well as energy production with constructed dual chamber microbial fuel cell

• Published in: SN applied sciences Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 9
• Main Authors: Jatoi, Abdul Sattar, Baloch, A. G., Jadhav, Ankit, Nizamuddin, Sabzoi, Aziz, Shaheen, Soomro, Suhail Ahmed, Nazir, Imran, Abro, Masroor, Baloch, Humair Ahmed, Ahmed, Jawad, Mubarak, N. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 1. Chemistry (general); Aeration; Alternative energy sources; Applied and Technical Physics; Biocatalysts; Biochemical fuel cells; Carbon; Cell growth; Chemical oxygen demand; Chemistry/Food Science; Earth Sciences; Efficiency; Electricity generation; Electrodes; Engineering; Environment; Fermentation; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Laboratories; Materials Science; Maximum power density; Microorganisms; pH effects; Research Article; Sludge; Sludge treatment; Substrates; Yeast; Sustainable electricity; Microbial fuel cell; Treatment of sludge; Fermented industry sludge
• ISSN: 2523-3963; 2523-3971
• DOI: 10.1007/s42452-019-1826-0

Microbial fuel cells offer a breakthrough for treatment of waste content coupled with energy generation. However, their applications are mostly limited to laboratories. Present research is focused on conducting the biological conversion of sludge originated from fermentation industry using microbial fuel cell (MFC). The efficiency of MFC was studied at different operating and nutritional conditions including pH, aeration rate and substrate concentration with biocatalyst
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
. The optimized conditions in terms of yielding maximum power density of 610 ± 30 mW/m
2
were reported at substrate concentration of 60% at 160 ml/min aeration rate and pH of 6, corresponding to a current density of 994 ± 41 mA/m
2
. Results suggested that utilization of fermented sludge in MFC could give direction to handle the problem of fermentation industries and also to overcome a small fraction of energy crisis.