Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (Jun 2019)
A Novel Application of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Waste Material as a to Replace Membrane in Microbial Fuel Cell Treating Actual Potato Chips Processing Wastewater
Abstract
The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a modern technique for treating wastewater, which is normally use a membrane in its conventional design. However, the cost of membrane in some countries in addition to the problems of fouling associated with some complex types of wastewaters led to search for new alternatives such waste materials. In this study, a piece of waste PVC wall cover material was used as a separator between the anodic and cathodic compartments in a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell fueled with actual potato chips processing wastewater (PCPW). The performance of membrane-less MFC was evaluated in terms of the power generation and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. The results revealed that the membrane-less MFC achieved high removal efficiency of COD concentration up to 99%. The pH value was used for monitoring the performance of PVC separator and the results revealed a very good performance associated with relatively high current and power densities of 560.8 mA/m2 and 181.1 mW/m2, respectively obtained with relatively lower internal resistance of 45 Ω.
