IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i23p9211-d994034.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coupling Microbial Fuel Cell and Hydroponic System for Electricity Generation, Organic Removal, and Nutrient Recovery via Plant Production from Wastewater

Author

Listed:
  • N. Evelin Paucar

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave., Stop 8060, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA)

  • Chikashi Sato

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave., Stop 8060, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA)

Abstract

The world is predicted to face serious threats from the depletion of non-renewable energy resources, freshwater shortage, and food scarcity. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are innovative bio-electrochemical devices capable of directly converting chemical energy into electrical energy using microorganisms as a catalyst. This ability has been explored for generating electricity using wastewater as an energy source, while simultaneously treating wastewater. On the other hand, hydroponics is the cultivation of plants in water without soil. The goal of this study was to develop a novel integrated microbial fuel cell-hydroponic system (MFC-Hyp system) that possesses the ability to concurrently generate electricity while degrading organic pollutants (Chemical oxygen demand, COD) in wastewater, remove and recover nutrients (phosphorus, P and nitrogen, N) from the wastewater, and produce edible plants. The MFC-Hyp system developed in this study produced a power density of 250.7 mW/m 2 . The power density increased by approximately 19% and the phosphorus recovery increased to 7.5% in the presence of Allium tuberosum compared to 4.9% without the plant (e.g., in the control). The removal efficiencies of nitrate, phosphate, and COD are 32%, 11%, and 80%, respectively. The results indicate that the novel integrated MFC-Hyp system can remove COD from wastewater, generate electricity using wastewater as an energy source, and utilize nutrients for growing plants; however, this system requires further improvement for field implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • N. Evelin Paucar & Chikashi Sato, 2022. "Coupling Microbial Fuel Cell and Hydroponic System for Electricity Generation, Organic Removal, and Nutrient Recovery via Plant Production from Wastewater," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:9211-:d:994034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9211/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/9211/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Evelin Paucar & Chikashi Sato, 2022. "An Overview of Microbial Fuel Cells within Constructed Wetland for Simultaneous Nutrient Removal and Power Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-30, September.
    2. Pandey, Prashant & Shinde, Vikas N. & Deopurkar, Rajendra L. & Kale, Sharad P. & Patil, Sunil A. & Pant, Deepak, 2016. "Recent advances in the use of different substrates in microbial fuel cells toward wastewater treatment and simultaneous energy recovery," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 706-723.
    3. Mark A. Shannon & Paul W. Bohn & Menachem Elimelech & John G. Georgiadis & Benito J. Mariñas & Anne M. Mayes, 2008. "Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades," Nature, Nature, vol. 452(7185), pages 301-310, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mashhadikhan, Samaneh & Ahmadi, Reyhane & Ebadi Amooghin, Abtin & Sanaeepur, Hamidreza & Aminabhavi, Tejraj M. & Rezakazemi, Mashallah, 2024. "Breaking temperature barrier: Highly thermally heat resistant polymeric membranes for sustainable water and wastewater treatment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    2. Anilkumar, T.T. & Simon, Sishaj P. & Padhy, Narayana Prasad, 2017. "Residential electricity cost minimization model through open well-pico turbine pumped storage system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 23-35.
    3. Rousseau, Raphaël & Etcheverry, Luc & Roubaud, Emma & Basséguy, Régine & Délia, Marie-Line & Bergel, Alain, 2020. "Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC): Strengths, weaknesses and research needs from electrochemical engineering standpoint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    4. Tang, Raymond Chong Ong & Jang, Jer-Huan & Lan, Tzu-Hsuan & Wu, Jung-Chen & Yan, Wei-Mon & Sangeetha, Thangavel & Wang, Chin-Tsan & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Ong, Zhi Chao, 2020. "Review on design factors of microbial fuel cells using Buckingham's Pi Theorem," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Guo, Qijing & Yi, Hao & Jia, Feifei & Song, Shaoxian, 2022. "Vertical porous MoS2/hectorite double-layered aerogel as superior salt resistant and highly efficient solar steam generators," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 68-79.
    6. Milan Daus & Katharina Koberger & Kaan Koca & Felix Beckers & Jorge Encinas Fernández & Barbara Weisbrod & Daniel Dietrich & Sabine Ulrike Gerbersdorf & Rüdiger Glaser & Stefan Haun & Hilmar Hofmann &, 2021. "Interdisciplinary Reservoir Management—A Tool for Sustainable Water Resources Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Andreas N. Angelakis & Mohammad Valipour & Abdelkader T. Ahmed & Vasileios Tzanakakis & Nikolaos V. Paranychianakis & Jens Krasilnikoff & Renato Drusiani & Larry Mays & Fatma El Gohary & Demetris Kout, 2021. "Water Conflicts: From Ancient to Modern Times and in the Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-31, April.
    8. Dhanu Radha Samayamanthula & Badriyah Alhalaili & Harinath Yapati & Adnan Akber & Chidambaram Sabarathinam, 2022. "Innovative Bacterial Removal Technique Using Green Synthetic Nano Curcumin Zinc (II) Complex for Sustainable Water Resource Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Hu, Jianjun & Zhang, Quanguo & Lee, Duu-Jong & Ngo, Huu Hao, 2018. "Feasible use of microbial fuel cells for pollution treatment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PB), pages 824-829.
    10. Van Geluwe, Steven & Braeken, Leen & Robberecht, Thomas & Jans, Maarten & Creemers, Claude & Van der Bruggen, Bart, 2011. "Evaluation of electrodialysis for scaling prevention of nanofiltration membranes at high water recoveries," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 34-42.
    11. Anusha Ganta & Yasser Bashir & Sovik Das, 2022. "Dairy Wastewater as a Potential Feedstock for Valuable Production with Concurrent Wastewater Treatment through Microbial Electrochemical Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-34, November.
    12. Xu, Lei & Wang, Bodi & Liu, Xiuhua & Yu, Wenzheng & Zhao, Yaqian, 2018. "Maximizing the energy harvest from a microbial fuel cell embedded in a constructed wetland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 83-91.
    13. Hani Alshahrani & Noman Islam & Darakhshan Syed & Adel Sulaiman & Mana Saleh Al Reshan & Khairan Rajab & Asadullah Shaikh & Jaweed Shuja-Uddin & Aadar Soomro, 2023. "Sustainability in Blockchain: A Systematic Literature Review on Scalability and Power Consumption Issues," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-24, February.
    14. Erez Braude & Shmuel Hauser & Zilla Sinuany-Stern & Gideon Oron, 2015. "Water Allocation Between the Agricultural and the Municipal Sectors Under Scarcity: A Financial Approach Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(10), pages 3481-3501, August.
    15. Li, Chennan & Goswami, Yogi & Stefanakos, Elias, 2013. "Solar assisted sea water desalination: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 136-163.
    16. Schäfer, Andrea I. & Hughes, Gordon & Richards, Bryce S., 2014. "Renewable energy powered membrane technology: A leapfrog approach to rural water treatment in developing countries?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 542-556.
    17. Joern Falk & Björn Globisch & Martin Angelmahr & Wolfgang Schade & Heike Schenk-Mathes, 2022. "Drinking Water Supply in Rural Africa Based on a Mini-Grid Energy System—A Socio-Economic Case Study for Rural Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, August.
    18. Janeth Marwa & Mesia Lufingo & Chicgoua Noubactep & Revocatus Machunda, 2018. "Defeating Fluorosis in the East African Rift Valley: Transforming the Kilimanjaro into a Rainwater Harvesting Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    19. Lu Liu & Yuanxin Yao & Xuebing Zhou & Yanan Zhang & Deqing Liang, 2021. "Improved Formation Kinetics of Carbon Dioxide Hydrate in Brine Induced by Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-12, April.
    20. Liu, Huan & Yi, Linlin & Zhang, Qiang & Hu, Hongyun & Lu, Geng & Li, Aijun & Yao, Hong, 2016. "Co-production of clean syngas and ash adsorbent during sewage sludge gasification: Synergistic effect of Fenton peroxidation and CaO conditioning," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1062-1068.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:9211-:d:994034. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.