A new design of activated carbon membrane air-cathode for wastewater treatment and energy recovery

Abstract

A novel design of membrane air-cathode (MAC) with a double activated carbon layer was developed and served as a filtration cathode in a single chambered microbial fuel cell. This new kind of air-cathode, with a simple fabrication process, greatly reduced the energy consumption, cost and complexity of air-cathode fabrication. The double layer MAC (DMC) obtained a power output of 1030 ± 31 mW m⁻², which was similar to traditional activated carbon air-cathode (TAC). Moreover, the DMC design significantly reduced the effluent concentrations of microorganisms in wastewater from 38.5 ± 4.2 mg L⁻¹ to 8.8 ± 1.2 mg L⁻¹ compared with TAC, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was higher than that of TAC. These results indicated that the new design of DMC provided a promising and energy-saving way to prepare air-cathodes and simultaneously achieved electricity generation and higher-quality effluent.