Researchers from the Environmental Biotechnology Lab at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur have demonstrated that plant-based microbial fuel cells can generate power more profitably from wastewater, compared to algae-based systems. Results of the research, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has been recently published in the journal Bioresource Technology.
The team was led by Dr Meenu Chhabra, Associate Professor, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, IIT Jodhpur. Arti Sharma, Sanjana Gajbhiye, Sweta Chauhan, and Dr Chhabra co-authored the paper.
Wastewater treatment is an important activity and the increasing generation of large amounts of domestic wastewater has necessitated development of newer treatment methods that are energy efficient and scalable, IIT Jodhpur said.
Organic waste materials have a lot of latent energy – domestic waste contains nine times more energy than the treatment consumes, it assed.
“A Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a device that uses microbes to convert organic matter in wastewater directly into electrical energy,” explained lead researcher Dr Chhabra.
The idea of using microbes to produce electricity was proposed long ago but to use it in fuel cells is a recent development. It can solve two problems– treatment of waste and energy generation, the institute said.
“We have experimentally compared the performance of algae and plant-based MFCs under similar operational conditions and wastewater sources,” said prof Chhabra.
The researchers compared the two in terms of pollutant removal efficiency and efficiency of electrical energy generation. They used Canna Indica for plant-based MFC and Chlorella vulgaris for the algae-based MFC.
“We found that plant MFCs are better suited because they are robust, stable, and achieve high power output,” said the lead researcher.
“Plant-based microbial fuel cells can be easily installed in natural wetland systems for in-situ bioremediation of waste and power generation,” prof Chhabra added.
These fuel cells can be installed as artificial wetlands at any location where wastewater is collected, and the power generated can be used to power small devices such as LEDs in remote locations, according to a statement by the institute.
The team plans to explore microbial fuel cells further and study such aspects as microbial communities analysis, long-term operation, rhizosphere characterization, and design optimization, in order to realize the potential of MFCs in wastewater treatment and alternative power generation.