Earthen Membrane Microbial Fuel Cell in Septage Treatment

In this study, there was an attempt has been made to create a cost-effective Microbial fuel cell (MFC) constructed with earthen layer as membrane without involving any costly membrane. Practically, operational conditions for those devices require that activity at the anodes is not affected by the ability of the cathode to exchange ion to the cathodic chamber. Therefore, suitable anode to cathode ratios was determined based on MFC performance in both electricity and septage treatment. Those ratios were 4.5, 3, 2.25, 1.8 and 1,5 which were equivalent to the number of anode graphite wires (GWs) of 9 and the cathode graphite wires of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. MFC units were loaded at 0.26 kgCOD·m-3·day-1, corresponded to a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 14 h. The maximum power output of 7.01 ± 1.03W·m-3 at an external resistance of 100 Ω was generated in MFC unit with the ratio of 3.