Bioelectricity generation from chocolate industry wastewater treatment by a mediator-less dual-chambered microbial fuel cell

In order to protect our earth for future generations, any process, including wastewater treatment, is preferred to be sustainable. In that context, microbial fuel cells (MFC) is promising technology that can convert the organic content present in any wastewater into useful bioelectricity. Chocolate industry generates large amounts of wastewater with high organic content and suspended solids, which makes it a well-suited input material for MFCs. This work attempts to study the performance of a dual chambered MFC for the treatment of real chocolate industry wastewater. The system attained stable performance after initial acclimation phase, where no external inoculum was added. A high COD removal efficiency of 86% was attained by this dual chambered MFC system, with a coulombic efficiency of 2.2%. The maximum current density and power density attained by this MFC was 13.55mA/ m2 and 2.8 mW/m2 respectively at a resistance of 4000 Ω. The huge internal resistance was attributed to the biofouling caused by high amounts of oils and fats present in wastewater. The findings thus give detailed insights about the electrochemical performance of chocolate industry effluent fed dual chambered MFC and possible perspectives for better performance.