Parchmentization process for low cost novel separator for cheese whey treatment in microbial fuel cell

Abstract

This study compared the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) using parchment paper as a separator to a CMI7000 proton exchange membrane. The MFCs were operated in two chambers with whey solution as the substrate. Parameters such as COD removal, internal resistance, power density, current density, and Coulombic efficiency ratio (CE) were evaluated. The CMI7000 membrane exhibited the highest COD removal at 92%, while the parchment paper achieved removal percentages ranging from 72 to 91%. The internal resistance was lower for the parchment paper separator for the first run, the internal resistances were 68 Ώ and 84 Ώ for parchment paper and CMI7000, respectively. The maximum energy densities were 219 mW/m² (5.74 mA/m²) and 421 mW/m² (8.24 mA/m²) for parchment paper and CMI7000 membrane, respectively. The CE values for parchment paper were 36.32% and 33.5%, while for the CMI7000 membrane, they were 42.73% and 32.0%, for the two runs. Overall, the study demonstrated that the parchment paper separator performed reasonably well in terms of COD removal, internal resistance, energy density, and Coulombic efficiency ratio compared to the CMI7000 membrane in microbial fuel cells.