Construction and Operation of Two Chamber Fuel Cell under Synthetic and Real Wastewater with Different Operation Conditions

Abstract

Constructing and testing a microbial fuel cell, (MFC) was accomplished in this research. Two chambers MFC connected with salt bridge was operated and studied using synthetic and real wastewater as anode chamber solution. Operating temperature and pH value were investigated by changing temperature from 25 OC to 30 OC and varying pH from 6.7 to 6.5. The results reveled that increasing operation temperature had a significant effect on reducing operation time while decreasing pH improved the measured voltage and current besides reducing operation time to just five days. The cell was tested with the presence of real wastewater under the optimal temperature and pH and the results proved the capability of the manufactured cell in treating such contaminate in relatively short operation time. The COD reduction rate was above 60% indicated the ability of living microorganisms in digesting the wastewater producing electrical power with maximum values of 0.443 mV and 8.3 μ A for voltage and current, respectively.