Bioelectricity Generation of Dual Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) Using Cow and Carabao Wastewater

Abstract

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a system that can efficiently and directly transform several non-purified organic substrates and various waste classes into electrical energy from the activity of bacteria. The performance of the dual chamber MFC system using cow and carabao wastewater were compared under identical conditions. Each set-up comprised anode and cathode with 25L wastewater (cow or carabao), microbial inoculant derived from effective microorganisms and molasses, stainless-steel electrodes, and salt bridge as proton exchange membrane (PEM). In these conditions, the MFC was operated for twenty (20) days and three (3) replications. Maximum power densities per surface area generated were 29.19 mW/m2 for cow wastewater and 10.88 mW/m2 for carabao wastewater. Meanwhile, peak power densities per volume were recorded at 583.87 mW/m3 and 217.51 mW/m3 for cow and carabao wastewater, respectively. Deductively, cow wastewater shows significantly higher results in bioelectricity generation than carabao wastewater. Furthermore, in terms of wastewater treatment, cow wastewater provided a greater TDS reduction efficiency of 41.23% than carabao wastewater, with only 28.59%.