Organic Waste Substrates for Bioenergy Production via Microbial Fuel Cells: A Key Point Review

Maria G. Savvidou, Pavlos K. Pandis, Diomi Mamma, Georgia Sourkouni and Christos Argirusis
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Maria G. Savvidou: Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 9 Iroon Polytechniou Str., 15780 Athens, Greece
Pavlos K. Pandis: Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 9 Iroon Polytechniou Str., 15780 Athens, Greece
Diomi Mamma: Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 9 Iroon Polytechniou Str., 15780 Athens, Greece
Georgia Sourkouni: TU Clausthal, Clausthal Centre of Materials Technology, Leibniz Str. 9, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Christos Argirusis: Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 9 Iroon Polytechniou Str., 15780 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-53

Abstract: High-energy consumption globally has raised questions about the low environmentally friendly and high-cost processes used until now for energy production. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) may support alternative more economically and environmentally favorable ways of bioenergy production based on their advantage of using waste. MFCs work as bio-electrochemical devices that consume organic substrates in order for the electrogenic bacteria and/or enzyme cultures to produce electricity and simultaneously lower the environmental hazardous value of waste such as COD. The utilization of organic waste as fuels in MFCs has opened a new research path for testing a variety of by-products from several industry sectors. This review presents several organic waste substrates that can be employed as fuels in MFCs for bioenergy generation and the effect of their usage on power density, COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal, and Coulombic efficiency enhancement. Moreover, a demonstration and comparison of the different types of mixed waste regarding their efficiency for energy generation via MFCs are presented. Future perspectives for manufacturing and cost analysis plans can support scale-up processes fulfilling waste-treatment efficiency and energy-output densities.

Keywords: microbial fuel cells; organic waste; bioenergy; COD removal; upscaling MFC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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