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Investigation of Microbial Electrolysis Cell Using Wastewater from Food Industries

Jafari Chamgordani, Behnaz | 2014

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 45720 (06)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Alemzadeh, Iran; Kariminia, Hamid Reza
  7. Abstract:
  8. Using microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) for hydrogen production has been considered in recent years. So far, synthetic wastewaters containing substances such as glucose and acetate have been mainly used in MECs and industrial wastewaters have not been widely studied. Food industry wastewater is a suitable choice for application in microbial electrolysis cell due to its biodegradable materials. In present research, dairy wastewater and sludge collected from UASB reactor of Iran Dairy Industries company, Tehran were initially used in a dual chamber microbial fuel cell until a stable voltage was generated .Afterward, the system was converted to a MEC applying a predetermined voltage. The minimum voltage (within the range of 0.3 to 1.0 V) needed for highest hydrogen production that was obtained in preliminary tests was 0.9 V. Effects of wastewater concentration and membrane type on the hydrogen production, wastewater treatment and system efficiency were investigated in the this MEC. It was observed that by increasing wastewater concentration, COD removal efficiency and hydrogen production reduced. The cathodic efficiency was 95% and 78% for MECs with 150 mg COD/l and 750 mg COD/l, respectively. Nafion as membrane, resulted in a higher cathodic efficiency of 86% because of its high proton transferability against a commercial cation exchange membrane .Study of the system performance in successive cycles indicated that the activity of methanogenic bacteria and membrane fouling increased in each cycle resulting in lower hydrogen production and system efficiency in the in each cycle. There was a 43% reduction in cathodic efficiency in the second cycle of the MEC with 750 mg COD/l
  9. Keywords:
  10. Microbial Electrolysis Cell ; Hydrogen ; Waste Treatment

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