Sustainable kitchen wastewater treatment with electricity generation using upflow biofilter-microbial fuel cell system

Abstract

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is considered a modern technology used for treating wastewater and recovering electrical energy. In this study, a new dual technology combining MFC and a specialized biofilter was used. The anodic materials in the system were crushed graphite, either without coating (UFB-MFC) or coated with nanomaterials (nano-UFB-MFC). This biofilter served as a barrier to retain and remove turbidity and suspended solids, while also facilitating the role of bacteria in the removal of organic pollutants, phosphates, nitrates, sulfates, oil and greases. The results demonstrated that both systems exhibited high efficiency in treating kitchen wastewater, specifically greywater and dishwashing wastewater with high detergent concentrations. The removal efficiencies of COD, oil and grease, suspended solids, turbidity, nitrates, sulfates, and phosphates in first UFB-MFC were found to be 88, 95, 89, 86, 87, 75, and 94%, respectively, and in Nano-UFB-MFC were 86, 99, 95, 91, 81, 88, and 95%, respectively, with a high efficiency in recovering bioenergy reaching a value of 1.8 and 1.5 A m⁻³, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate the potential for developing MFC and utilizing it as a domestic system to mitigate pollution risks before discharging wastewater into the sewer network.