Bioelectricity generation in continuously-fed microbial fuel cell: Effects of anode electrode material and hydraulic retention time

The main aim of this study is to investigate the bioelectricity production in continuously-fed dual chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC). Initially, MFC was operated with different anode electrode material at constant hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 d to evaluate the effect of electrode material on electricity production. Pt electrode yielded about 642 mW/m2 power density, which was 4 times higher than that of the MFC with the mixed metal oxide titanium (Ti–TiO2). Further, MFC equipped with Pt electrode was operated at varying HRT (2–0.5 d). The power density generation increased with decreasing HRT, corresponding to 1313 mW/m2 which was maximum value obtained during this study. Additionally, decreasing HRT from 2 to 0.5 d resulted in increasing effluent dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration from 1.92 g/L to 2.23 g/L, corresponding to DOC removal efficiencies of 46% and 38%, respectively.