TY - JOUR
T1 - Reducing organic loads in wastewater effluents from paper recycling plants using microbial fuel cells
AU - Huang, Liping
AU - Cheng, Shaoan
AU - Rezaei, Farzaneh
AU - Logan, Bruce E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported through an I-99 Micro Industry Research Grant by the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation and the Ben Franklin Technology Partners, the American Eagle Paper Mills, NREL contract RFH-7-77623-01, and the Paul L. Bush award administered by the Water Environment Research Foundation.
PY - 2009/4
Y1 - 2009/4
N2 - Many industries are charged fees based on the organic loads in effluents. Therefore, it can be advantageous to reduce the wastewater strength prior to discharge. We investigated the use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a paper-plant wastewater while at the same time producing electricity in a continuous flow system. At a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of six hours, COD removal using an unamended wastewater (506 mg/L COD) (organic loading rate, OLR = 2.0 kg COD/(m3 d)) was 262%, with a power density of 5.90.2 W/m3 (2107 mW/m2). This amount of power was similar to the maximum power density (5.20.4 W/m3) produced in fed-batch tests using a slightly lower strength wastewater in the same device (405 mg/L COD). Increasing the HRT to 25 h (OLR = 0.5 kg COD/(m3 d)) increased COD removal (412%) but substantially decreased power (2.80.3 W/m3). While wastewater strength affected removal rates, the solution conductivity (0.8 mS/cm) was primarily a factor in low power production. These results demonstrate that MFCs can be used to reduce organic loads in effluents at relatively short HRTs, while at the same time generating power.
AB - Many industries are charged fees based on the organic loads in effluents. Therefore, it can be advantageous to reduce the wastewater strength prior to discharge. We investigated the use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a paper-plant wastewater while at the same time producing electricity in a continuous flow system. At a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of six hours, COD removal using an unamended wastewater (506 mg/L COD) (organic loading rate, OLR = 2.0 kg COD/(m3 d)) was 262%, with a power density of 5.90.2 W/m3 (2107 mW/m2). This amount of power was similar to the maximum power density (5.20.4 W/m3) produced in fed-batch tests using a slightly lower strength wastewater in the same device (405 mg/L COD). Increasing the HRT to 25 h (OLR = 0.5 kg COD/(m3 d)) increased COD removal (412%) but substantially decreased power (2.80.3 W/m3). While wastewater strength affected removal rates, the solution conductivity (0.8 mS/cm) was primarily a factor in low power production. These results demonstrate that MFCs can be used to reduce organic loads in effluents at relatively short HRTs, while at the same time generating power.
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U2 - 10.1080/09593330902788244
DO - 10.1080/09593330902788244
M3 - Article
C2 - 19507441
AN - SCOPUS:67649237063
SN - 0959-3330
VL - 30
SP - 499
EP - 504
JO - Environmental Technology
JF - Environmental Technology
IS - 5
ER -