Study of Different Membranes in Microbial Fuel Cell Through Different Cathodes

The two chambered Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) was designed and used for studying efficiency of different membranes for the real wastewater treatment from a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical plant. The removal of the contaminants was expressed in terms of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal, as measured by spectrophotometry experiments. Experiments were divided into two sections. First phase of experiments was performed using Pt-coated Ti as the cathode and Stainless Steel as the anode, using NAFION® 324 membrane while in the second phase PTFE membrane was replaced with NAFION. The results indicate that using NAFION membrane could increase the maximum power density and COD removal rate to 20.5w/m3 and 92 % respectively.  

Keywords:

Microbial fuel cell , Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Wastewater , Electricity Generation , COD Removal , Nafion Membrane , PTFE Membrane