Abstract:
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) have gained a lot of attention recently as a mode of converting organic matter into electricity. The main objectives of this study are to produce electricity and at the same time accomplishing the secondary wastewater treatment. Typical MFC consists of an anaerobic anode chamber and an aerobic cathode chamber which are separated by salt bridge. Electricity is generated through microbial catalysis at the anode under anaerobic conditions and the reduction of terminal electron acceptor most likely oxygen at the cathode. Besides, the study also covered scopes the characteristics of wastewater in MFCs. Four types of wastewater had been selected in industrial nearby. The performance electrodes are one of the most important aspects in the design of MFCs. In this study, carbon cloth was use as electrodes. The graph of the effect of types of wastewater over time and the graph of the effect of parameters such as pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are analyzed and compared in order to obtain high electricity production. The highest current had been recorded by using wastewater PK Agro-Industrial Products (M) Sdn. Bhd. which was 83.4 mV while low of current had been produced when using wastewater Syarikat Air Melaka Berhad (SAMB) as anode medium. This is because high concentration of micronutrients might contain in the wastewater Agro which was essential for the survival of bacteria. The performance of MFC can be also influenced by the pH, BOD and COD. The MFC technology is evaluated relative to current alternatives for energy generation.
