Pretreatment of dewatered sludge for microbial fuel cell application
Loading...
Date
2017-06
Authors
Nur Fatin Syahira Binti Rusdi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In this study, influence of different method of pretreatment of
dewatered sludge for microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance was investigated. This
study investigated the effects of different methods (alkaline and acidic pretreatment)
with varying pH (9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4) on 24 hours of pretreatment. First, effect of
sludge pretreatment was analysed by Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
solubilisation and Volatile Organic Acids (VOA). After 24 hours of pretreatment,
COD solubilisation and VOA was higher for alkaline pretreatment and lower for
acidic pretreatment. Second, with 7 days of operation at batch mode, single chamber
microbial fuel cell (SCMFC) was run with pretreated sludge (external resistance -
1000Ω). Alkaline pretreatment showed a decrease of Soluble Chemical Oxygen
Demand (SCOD) up to 46% meanwhile the value for acidic pretreatment was 23%.
From experimental results, it was indicated that the maximum voltage generation
with open circuit voltage (OCV) of 691mV at pH 6 was generated in 7 days. The
conductivity of the pretreated sludge for both methods decreased during the 7 days
operation. Thus, these results showed that using pretreated sludge as the substrates in
MFC could achieve both sludge reduction and electricity generation, and proper
pretreatment of sludge could improve the overall process.