Microbial Fuel Cell for Renewable Energies Generation from Manure Treatment

¹ Environmental Engineering, Lancaster University College at Beijing Jiaotong University, Weihai 264200, China
² Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou 515063, China
³ School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 511436, China
⁴ Engineering Department, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond 46323, US

^* Corresponding author e-mail: 20182431018@m.scnu.edu.cn
^† These authors contributed equally.

Abstract

In the process of society, high-density livestock farms have developed rapidly to satisfy the increasing demand for meat products. Excessive wastewater from the livestock farms accordingly brought multiple pollution and deteriorate the environment, with the wastewater containing abundant chemical energy regarded as futility. Furthermore, the ingredients of wastewater varied from distinct livestock farms as a result of different animal feeding habits. Consequently, it is a necessity for specific wastewater treatment applied to a certain farm to control various pollution incidents while effectively recovering the potential chemical energy in wastewater. Microbial fuel cell, a device that converts chemical energy in the organic matter directly into electrical energy by a microorganism, is expected to be integrated with the existing wastewater treatment systems to make up for the shortcomings of existing technologies, improve the treatment efficiency and energy recovery rate. Therefore, it is a predictable trend for the microbial fuel cell to be combined with the traditional farm wastewater treatment system. This article demonstrates two traditional manure treatment methods: composting and biogas fermentation, followed by an evaluation of four advanced wastewater treatment technologies merged with microbial fuel cell. It is concluded that incorporating microbial fuel cells with separate wastewater treatment system will be a consequential sustainable development strategy in the future, with the purpose of fecal water treatment and energy recovery efficiently achieved.