: Application of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) may represent a completely
new approach to wastewater treatment with production of sustainable clean energy.
In recent years, researchers have shown that MFCs can be used to produce
electricity from water containing glucose, acetate or lactate. Studies on electricity
generation using organic matter from the wastewater as substrate are in progress.
The performance of the MFCs as reported in literature with different substrate is
presented in this paper. Under different conditions such as inoculum culture (pure or
mixed), substrate sources, and external loads, the MFCs are reported to produce
power density in the range 0.3 to 3600 mW/m2
. Performance of the laboratory scale
membrane less MFC using synthetic wastewater was evaluated for its effectiveness
for organic matter removal and electricity production. It was observed that this
membrane less MFC was capable to give COD reduction greater than 90 percent,
with maximum power production 6.73 mW/m2
. If power generation in MFC can be
increased, this technology may provide a new method to offset wastewater treatment
plant operating costs, with less excess sludge production.