A Perspective Review on Microbial Fuel Cells in Treatment and Product Recovery from Wastewater

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 316
• Main Authors: Malik, Sumira, Kishore, Shristi, Dhasmana, Archna, Kumari, Preeti, Mitra, Tamoghni, Chaudhary, Vishal, Kumari, Ritu, Bora, Jutishna, Ranjan, Anuj, Minkina, Tatiana, Rajput, Vishnu D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-01-2023
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Anodizing; Biocatalysts; Biochemical fuel cells; Bioelectricity; Carbon; Chemical oxygen demand; Chemical reduction; Chemical treatment; Clean energy; Climate change; Contaminants; Costs; Design; Electric power generation; Electric power production; Electricity; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Energy; energy production; Energy recovery; Force and energy; Fuel cell industry; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Harnesses; Human populations; Methylene blue; microbial fuel cells; Microorganisms; Nutrients; Organic contaminants; Oxidation; Pollutant removal; Purification; Renewable energy sources; Resource recovery; Sewage; Sewage treatment; Sustainability; Wastewater pollution; Wastewater treatment; Water treatment; India
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w15020316

The treatment of wastewater is an expensive and energy-extensive practice that not only ensures the power generation requirements to sustain the current energy demands of an increasing human population but also aids in the subsequent removal of enormous quantities of wastewater that need to be treated within the environment. Thus, renewable energy source-based wastewater treatment is one of the recently developing techniques to overcome power generation and environmental contamination issues. In wastewater treatment, microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has demonstrated a promising potential to evolve as a sustainable approach, with the simultaneous recovery of energy and nutrients to produce bioelectricity that harnesses the ability of electrogenic microbes to oxidize organic contaminants present in wastewater. Since traditional wastewater treatment has various limitations, sustainable implementations of MFCs might be a feasible option in wastewater treatment, green electricity production, biohydrogen synthesis, carbon sequestration, and environmentally sustainable sewage treatment. In MFCs, the electrochemical treatment mechanism is based on anodic oxidation and cathodic reduction reactions, which have been considerably improved by the last few decades of study. However, electricity production by MFCs remains a substantial problem for practical implementations owing to the difficulty in balancing yield with overall system upscaling. This review discusses the developments in MFC technologies, including improvements to their structural architecture, integration with different novel biocatalysts and biocathode, anode, and cathode materials, various microbial community interactions and substrates to be used, and the removal of contaminants. Furthermore, it focuses on providing critical insights and analyzing various types, processes, applications, challenges, and futuristic aspects of wastewater treatment-related MFCs and thus sustainable resource recovery. With appropriate planning and further studies, we look forward to the industrialization of MFCs in the near future, with the idea that this will lead to greener fuels and a cleaner environment for all of mankind.