Evaluation and Exploration of Electricity Generation by Microbial Fuel Cell Isolated from Warje Waste Water Treatment Plant, Pune, India

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is bioreactor that converts chemical energy into electrical energy through metabolic activity of microorganisms under aerobic/anaerobic conditions. Study was carried out to test the performance of the cathodic electron acceptor and anodic electron donor which plays important role in microbial fuel cells for generation of electricity. The aim of our study is to explore these electricity generating bacteria. The two-chamber MFCs were used to conduct experiments. Total eight bacterial isolates were obtained from samples, out of which six isolates were prominent for generating electricity. The MFC was constructed and electricity generation was measured after various intervals. The effect of salt on MFC was studied, as well as source of carbon was altered, also the concentration of agarose was changed to study its effect. The bacterial isolate obtained from Warje waste water gave maximum 429mV. The series connection of five MFC chambers containing bacterial isolate from Warje waste water gave voltage of 65mV . The bulb (LED) glowed prominently at this voltage. Our results also indicated that searching and isolating bacteria that are more stable electricity producing bacteria could be a new strategy to for isolation and MFC from waste water treatment.