Enhanced Treatment Of High Concentration Organic Wastewater By Microbial Fuel Cells

In this paper, it introduced the mechanism of microbial fuel cell （MFC） andthe latest research process. On this basis, to construct the air-cathodesingle-chamber microbial fuel cell with non-proton exchange membrane consistedof stainless steel as anode, carbon cloth as cathode, which used for enhancedtreatment of high concentration organic wastewater. This paper taking liquorbrewing wastewater for example, in comparision with traditional anaerobic process（control experiment）, characteristics of treatment on real high concentrationorganic wastewater by MFC were studied through investigating the influence ofinfluent pH, concentration of organic pollutant on power generation by MFC andefficiency of removal COD_Cr, and then set a plot-scale MFC to study removal thewastewater by running consective influent. Meanwhile, constructing thesingle-chamber microbial fuel cell with fully stainless steel as anode, carbon clothas cathode to remove nitrate, compared with anaerobic control group, it showedMFC could enhance the denitrification process. The results were as follows:MFC could enhance the treatment of high concentration of organic wastewater,and the group of MFC was approximately7%-10%higher than the anaerobiccontrol group in the state of the closed circuit in wastewater removal. Removalefficiency of COD_Crby MFC and electricity production were optimal under thecondition of influent concentration of8000mg/L and pH=7.5. Under theseconditions, collecting the external resistor of1000and setting the hydraulicretention time of48h, COD_Crremoval efficiency by the medium-scale reactor ofMFC reached about44%,5%higher than the anaerobic control group, and thevoltage kept stable between530-540mV.MFC could promote the degradation of nitrate, and strengthen thedenitrification process. NO3-N removal efficiency by MFC was10%higher thanthe anaerobic control group. It also demonstrated that the impact of differentresistances on removal of NO3-N by MFC. In this experiment, external resistancewith100was the optimal condition.Our results showed that: it could be enhanced the treatment on highconcentrations organic wastewater by MFC, which was higher than that byconventional anaerobic treatment technology, and it could generate power through MFC. MFC could be ulized in strengthening the denitrification process, andpromoting the degradation of nitrate. MFC has great potential in the developmentof wastewater treatment as a new technology.