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Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment

Received: 23 December 2016     Accepted: 6 January 2017     Published: 24 January 2017
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Abstract

Improvement of the parameters which limit the harvest of energy in microbial fuel cell (MFC) is paramount to increase its output and promote commercial application of the technology. Six dual chamber MFCs with either potassium permanganate or potassium ferricyanide as electron acceptor and various combinations of carbon and copper rods as electrodes produced maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.97V, 1.23V, 1.34V, 0.75V, 1.03V and 0.63V. The power density (at Rext = 1000Ω), which increased with decreasing external resistance until 200Ω beyond which it decreased, peaked at 79.27mW/m2 (105.7mA/m2), 156.32mW/m2 (148.4mA/m2), 92.29mW/m2 (114.0mA/m2), 60.94mW/m2 (92.6mA/m2), 39.94mW/m2 (75.0mA/m2) and 14.21mW/m2 (44.70mA/m2) for the MFCs. Similarly, coulombic efficiency (CE) were 69%, 84%, 74%, 76%,72% and 5.10%, while COD removal were 65%, 51%, 47%, 83%, 48% and 49%. Above results indicated that potassium permanganate outperformed potassium ferricyanide, while use of carbon as both electrodes was better than other blends copper and/or carbon used in the study. Lactobacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Streptococcus spp., Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Aeromonas spp., Micrococcus lyteus, Corynebacterium spp., Cladosporium, Aspergillus versicolour, Candida albicans, A. flavus, Aspergillus nidulans, Trichoderma spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus were microorganisms isolated from the piggery wastewater. Further studies using cheaper, more sustainable materials with better effects on the setup are necessary.

Published in International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12
Page(s) 8-20
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Bioelectricity, Electrodes, Electron Acceptors, Carbon, Copper

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    Anuforo Henry Uzoma, Ogbulie Tochukwu Ekwutosi, Akujobi Campbell Onyeka. (2017). Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment. International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 1(1), 8-20. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12

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    Anuforo Henry Uzoma; Ogbulie Tochukwu Ekwutosi; Akujobi Campbell Onyeka. Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment. Int. J. Bioorg. Chem. 2017, 1(1), 8-20. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12

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    AMA Style

    Anuforo Henry Uzoma, Ogbulie Tochukwu Ekwutosi, Akujobi Campbell Onyeka. Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment. Int J Bioorg Chem. 2017;1(1):8-20. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12,
      author = {Anuforo Henry Uzoma and Ogbulie Tochukwu Ekwutosi and Akujobi Campbell Onyeka},
      title = {Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment},
      journal = {International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry},
      volume = {1},
      number = {1},
      pages = {8-20},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijbc.20160101.12},
      abstract = {Improvement of the parameters which limit the harvest of energy in microbial fuel cell (MFC) is paramount to increase its output and promote commercial application of the technology. Six dual chamber MFCs with either potassium permanganate or potassium ferricyanide as electron acceptor and various combinations of carbon and copper rods as electrodes produced maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.97V, 1.23V, 1.34V, 0.75V, 1.03V and 0.63V. The power density (at Rext  = 1000Ω), which increased with decreasing external resistance until 200Ω beyond which it decreased, peaked at 79.27mW/m2 (105.7mA/m2), 156.32mW/m2 (148.4mA/m2), 92.29mW/m2 (114.0mA/m2), 60.94mW/m2 (92.6mA/m2), 39.94mW/m2 (75.0mA/m2) and 14.21mW/m2 (44.70mA/m2) for the MFCs. Similarly, coulombic efficiency (CE) were 69%, 84%, 74%, 76%,72% and 5.10%, while COD removal were 65%, 51%, 47%, 83%, 48% and 49%. Above results indicated that potassium permanganate outperformed potassium ferricyanide, while use of carbon as both electrodes was better than other blends copper and/or carbon used in the study. Lactobacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Streptococcus spp., Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Aeromonas spp., Micrococcus lyteus, Corynebacterium spp., Cladosporium, Aspergillus versicolour, Candida albicans, A. flavus, Aspergillus nidulans, Trichoderma spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus were microorganisms isolated from the piggery wastewater. Further studies using cheaper, more sustainable materials with better effects on the setup are necessary.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Comparative Study of Effects of Electrode Materials and Catholyte on Simultaneous Generation of Bioelectricity and Waste water Treatment
    AU  - Anuforo Henry Uzoma
    AU  - Ogbulie Tochukwu Ekwutosi
    AU  - Akujobi Campbell Onyeka
    Y1  - 2017/01/24
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12
    T2  - International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry
    JF  - International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry
    JO  - International Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry
    SP  - 8
    EP  - 20
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-9392
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbc.20160101.12
    AB  - Improvement of the parameters which limit the harvest of energy in microbial fuel cell (MFC) is paramount to increase its output and promote commercial application of the technology. Six dual chamber MFCs with either potassium permanganate or potassium ferricyanide as electron acceptor and various combinations of carbon and copper rods as electrodes produced maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.97V, 1.23V, 1.34V, 0.75V, 1.03V and 0.63V. The power density (at Rext  = 1000Ω), which increased with decreasing external resistance until 200Ω beyond which it decreased, peaked at 79.27mW/m2 (105.7mA/m2), 156.32mW/m2 (148.4mA/m2), 92.29mW/m2 (114.0mA/m2), 60.94mW/m2 (92.6mA/m2), 39.94mW/m2 (75.0mA/m2) and 14.21mW/m2 (44.70mA/m2) for the MFCs. Similarly, coulombic efficiency (CE) were 69%, 84%, 74%, 76%,72% and 5.10%, while COD removal were 65%, 51%, 47%, 83%, 48% and 49%. Above results indicated that potassium permanganate outperformed potassium ferricyanide, while use of carbon as both electrodes was better than other blends copper and/or carbon used in the study. Lactobacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Streptococcus spp., Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Aeromonas spp., Micrococcus lyteus, Corynebacterium spp., Cladosporium, Aspergillus versicolour, Candida albicans, A. flavus, Aspergillus nidulans, Trichoderma spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus were microorganisms isolated from the piggery wastewater. Further studies using cheaper, more sustainable materials with better effects on the setup are necessary.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Biology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

  • Department of Biotechnology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

  • Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria

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