Microbial fuel cell with a nano‑membrane and two expired medicinal drug‑feeding cathode: a novel strategy

In recent years, there has been developing interests in microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology as a hopeful approach to overcome worldwide energy crisis that will come into account by restricting fossil fuels consumption in the future. In addition, many drugs around the world are accessible to some populations easily and remain unused annually. This paper discusses bioelectricity generation with whey degradation in a dual chambered MFC in the presence of some expired medicinal drug-feeding cathodes. Consequently, a two-chamber MFC applied using Escherichia coli as biocatalyst, humic acid as electron mediator and Nafion 117 with a 5 nm in size as nano-membrane. The results showed that the open-circuit potential was 0.751 V at ambient condition. Stability of the voltage was exceeded 20 h. Acetaminophen codeine and Bismuth—as two expired medicinal drugs—applied as possible catholyte. In conclusion, Bismuth revealed more opportunity for power deriving in comparison with Acetaminophen. The best values were close to 2.9 × 10^−5 W and 1.75 × 10^−4 A, referring to power generation and current production, respectively