Abstract
A dual chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) with a novel application of granular activated carbon (GAC) as biofilm bearer was developed for simultaneous biotreatment of real pharmaceutical wastewater and power generation. The results demonstrated that maximum COD removal efficiency and power density achieved were 83% and 204.9 mW/m2, respectively. To examine the influence of GAC adsorptive capacity on COD removal, an additional identically designed MFC was set up with high density polyethylene (HDPE) to replace the GAC as biofilm bearer. The results revealed that maximum observed COD removal efficiency and power density were 83% and 205 mW/m2, respectively. A steady state, two dimensional model accounting for coupled mass, charge and momentum balances in the biofilm domain was developed. Significant agreement was observed between the predicated and experimental results with a coefficient of determination up to 0.991 demonstrating the validity of the proposed model for the suggested bio-electrochemical system within the selected range of operating conditions.
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•A novel application of granular activated carbon and HDPE as biofilm bearers in MFC.•MFC was developed for simultaneous treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater and power generation.•A two-dimensional model was developed to describe the MFC performance.•Significant agreement was observed between the experimental and predicted findings.