Shipboard bilge water treatment by electrocoagulation powered by microbial fuel cells

doi:10.1007/s11783-019-1134-3

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2019, Vol. 13

Issue (4) : 53 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1134-3

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Shipboard bilge water treatment by electrocoagulation powered by microbial fuel cells

Xiaoxue Mei^1,⁴, Heming Wang^2,³, Dianxun Hou², Fernanda Leite Lobo², Defeng Xing⁴, Zhiyong Jason Ren^1,²(

)

¹. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
². Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
³. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
⁴. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China

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Abstract

Reveals the synergy between microbial fuel cells and electrocoagulation.

Demonstrates MFC-ECC shipboard wastewater treatment is advantageous.

MFC-ECC integration enables energy neutral bilge water treatment.

Ships generate large amounts of wastewater including oily bilge water, blackwater and greywater. Traditionally they are treated separately with high energy consumption. In this study we demonstrate the feasibility that these waste streams can be treated using an integrated electrocoagulation cell (ECC) and microbial fuel cell (MFC) process, which not only synergized the contaminants removal but also accomplished energy neutrality by directly powering EC with MFC electricity. Results showed that MFC stack powered ECC removed 93% of oily organics, which is comparable to the performance of an external DC voltage powered ECC. In the meantime, more than 80% of COD was removed from MFCs when fed with either acetate or municipal wastewater. Moreover, the ECC electrode area and distance showed notable effects on current generation and contaminants removal, and further studies should focus on operation optimization to enhance treatment efficiency.

Keywords Bilge water Electrocoagulation Microbial fuel cell Shipboard wastewater

Corresponding Author(s): Zhiyong Jason Ren

Issue Date: 29 April 2019

Cite this article:

Xiaoxue Mei,Heming Wang,Dianxun Hou, et al. Shipboard bilge water treatment by electrocoagulation powered by microbial fuel cells[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2019, 13(4): 53.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-019-1134-3
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2019/V13/I4/53

Fig.1 Schematics of the microbial fuel cells and electrocoagulation cell (MFC-ECC) system for integrated bilge water and black/gray water treatment.

Fig.2 Comparison of ECC operation performance powered by either MFC stack or DC power supply. (a) Time course current generation, voltage output of the 3-MFC stack, and the anode and cathode potentials of ECCs; (b) time course current generation, voltage output of DC power supply, and the anode and cathode potentials of ECCs.

Fig.3 Comparison of bilge water treatment performance by MFC-ECC and DC-ECC systems. (a) Changes of chemical oxygen demand, (b) pH, (c) conductivity. The MFCs were filled with 1 g/L sodium acetate medium solution. BW: raw bilge water.

Fig.4 The effects of electrode area and distance on system performance. (a) Electrode area, (b) electrode distance. The ECC was powered by 3 MFCs connected in series, and MFCs were filled with acetate medium solution.

Fig.5 Concurrent treatment of municipal wastewater and bilge water by MFC-ECC. (a) Current generation, overall voltage of MFCs, sacrificial anode potentials and cathode potentials of ECC, (b) COD removal from municipal wastewater in the MFCs at 8 h, (c) COD removal from bilge water at 4 h, 6 h and 8 h in ECC. BW: raw bilge water; DWW: raw municipal wastewater.

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