Sustainable approach for wastewater treatment through microbial fuel cell (MFC): Using wood glue instead of expensive polymeric binders

Alireza Mosusavi¹ Neda Taqavi² Mohsen Taghavijeloudar³

1) Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, 47148-71167, Babol, Iran
2) MSc., Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, 47148-71167, Babol, Iran
3) PhD of Environment Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, 151‑744 Seoul, South Korea

Publication : International Congress on Science, engineering & New Technologies(secongress.com/1st)
Abstract :
Wastewater treatment (WWT) through microbial fuel cell (MFC) has received great attention due to its simplicity and high efficiency. However, the relatively high operation cost of this approach limits its application for large scale. In this research, a novel technique of using cheap wood glue instead of expensive polymeric binders for anode fabrication was presented to make the application of MFC feasible for WWT. The reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was monitored to evaluate the performance of the new designed MFC with wood glue (MFC-WG) in comparison with conventional anode martials for MFCs (such as carbon felt: MFC-CF and carbon cloth: MFC-CC). A brief economic analysis was conducted to study the feasibility of the new approach. According to the results, a COD removal of 66.7% was achieved in the case of MFC-WG which was less than MFC-CF (70.4%), but more than MFC-CC (63.2%). However, the economic analysis results revealed that using MFC-WG could significantly reduce the overall cost MFC operation: XX% and XX% less than MFC-CF and MFC-CC, respectively. As a result, the findings of this research suggest MFCs as promising alternative for WWT conventional methods at large scale.
Keywords : Waste water treatment Microbial fuel cell COD reduction Wood Glue