ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Coupling Microbial Fuel Cells with
Electrocoagulation Cells to form an Integrated
System for Wastewater Treatment
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Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Division, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Submission date: 2018-01-07
Final revision date: 2018-03-24
Acceptance date: 2018-03-26
Online publication date: 2018-12-12
Publication date: 2019-02-18
Corresponding author
Safwat M. Safwat
Cairo University Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 12613 Giza, Egypt
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(3):1909-1915
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ABSTRACT
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and electrocoagulation cells (ECCs) are two emerging technologies
in the treatment of wastewater. The integration between MFCs and ECCs has not been reported
yet. This work studied the ability to couple MFCs with an ECC to form an integrated system for
wastewater treatment. Two types of wastewater were examined: synthetic wastewater containing
a mixture of glucose and soluble starch, and real municipal wastewater. A series of MFCs could
provide sufficient energy for the electrocoagulation process. The results showed that the removal
efficiencies of COD, TDS, and TSS were 95.4%, 88.4%, and 93.8%, respectively, for synthetic
wastewater, while these values were 83.7%, 57.5%, and 85.8%, respectively, for real wastewater.
The energy harvested from the MFCs to ECCs when using synthetic wastewater was more than
that harvested using real wastewater. The capital cost of the integrated system is high using MFCs
and ECCs, but it will significantly reduce the operational cost compared to ECCs.