Electricity Generation and Sulfide Removal by dual chamber Microbial fuel cell simultaneously

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been used to alter different sources of substrates to bioelectricity recently. It can also be used for wastewater treatment and electricity generation simultaneously. Sulfur compounds such as sulfides are commonly exist in wastewater and organic waste. In this study a dual chamber MFC was constructed for power production. Sulfide was used as electron donor in anaerobic anode compartment. Mixed culture of microorganisms was used as active biocatalyst to convert substrate toward electricity. The obtained experimental results expose that this MFC can successfully alter sulfide to elementary sulfur and power generation. Maximum generated power and current density with out aeration were 364 mW.m-2 and 1335 mA.m-2, respectively. The influence of the oxygen was examined in the cathode chamber and during aeration the cell voltage gradually increased and reached to 480 mV after 1200 s. Hexacyanoferrate was added to cathodic solution in different concentrations and its affect was investigated. Maximum generated voltage , power and current density were 988.9145 mV ,346.22 mW.m-2 ,1257.51 mA.m-2 , respectively and they were obtained in peresence of 1.2 g l-1 mediator