Effect of carbon materials as cathode on wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation in a double chambered microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising and sustainable technology that has high efficiency to produce renewable energy and treat wastewater simultaneously. The effect of carbon materials on the removal of synthetic wastewater in the anodic chamber and electricity generation were investigated using a double chambered MFC. In this study, a double chambered reactor made up of anodic and cathodic chambers separated by proton exchange membrane has been developed. Carbon plate and carbon felt were characterized using scanning electron microscopy. Results revealed that 1.20 times higher chemical oxygen demand removal of synthetic wastewater using carbon felt (50.90%) as compared with that of carbon plate (43.52%). The maximum voltage output produced by carbon felt (280.20 mV) was 20.70% higher than carbon plate (222.20 mV) as cathode in MFC. The surface morphology of carbon materials has significant effect on the oxygen reduction reaction reactivity at cathodic chamber.