Development of a novel anode for urban wastewater treatment in two chambers microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cells are bioreactors that generate electricity by using the metabolic activities of bacteria. The use of MFC in wastewater treatment is a promising development for the increasing need for clean energy in the world. For this reason, many studies have been carried out to increase the efficiency wastewater treatment with MFC. In this study, untreated urban wastewater samples were used as fuel in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell. The cathode chamber placed inside the anode chamber and the membrane positioned parallel to the reactor bottom were examined as an innovative design. Copper wires sewn onto carbon fabric were used as anode and cathode then compared with unsewn copper electrodes. Study was carried out in four steps, namely, (1) measuring the efficiency of sewn electrodes separately, (2) with magnetic stirring, (3) then with methylene blue as a mediator, and finally, (4) by examining the performance of copper without sewing into carbon fabric. Air was supplied to the cathode at all steps. The highest power densities obtained were 29,3, 37, 24,6, 9,5 mW/m2, respectively. COD removal of the sewn and unsewn electrodes reached 83% and 24,3% respectively at the end of the tenth day. Also, coulombic efficiency values were found as 1,62% and 1,85% respectively.