Understanding the Effect of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in Generating Electricity from Real Waste Sludge in Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a versatile technology for power generation from biodegradable solid wastes. This study aimed to investigate Fe(II) and Fe(III) effects on MFC’s power generation and wastewater treatment performance. All MFCs were operated in a batch mode and incubated at a constant temperature (40 ℃) for 45 days of operation. The experimental procedure went through MFCs construction, collection and characterization of waste sludge samples, and bacterial growth counting. Results showed that the Fe(III) addition exhibited a higher power output by 295 % and a shorter start-up time. The microbial growth increased by 92.18 %, and the anolyte’s resistivity decreased with an increase in the organic matter digestion by 52.78 %. However, the amount of power generated in these MFCs was limited by the biological Fe(III) reduction rate high enough to restrict the produced current.