Generation of Electricity from Abattoir Waste Water with the Aid of a Relatively Cheap Source of Catholyte

Abstract

The generation of electricity from high strength abattoir waste water has been demonstrated to be feasible at room temperature using a novel electron acceptor as catholyte in dual-chambered microbial fuel cell systems with agar- salt bridge inter-connection. The utilization of this electron acceptor in the single dualchambered and double dual-chambered in parallel and series was observed to produce an open circuit voltage of 1560mV, 1400mV and 2860mV respectively. Maximum power density was observed to be 12.26mW/m2, 20.71mW/m2 for the single dual-chambered and double dual-chambered in parallel respectively. However, due to very high internal resistance of the double dual-chambered in series (>9999Ω) a very poor polarization data was obtained. Current densities at maximum power for the single dual-chambered and double dual-chambered in parallel were observed to be 16.09mA/m2 and 35.77mA/m2 with internal resistances 4000Ω and 600Ω respectively. The application of this novel catholyte for power generation in MFC’s systems has the potential of regeneration thus, sustaining its utility for long periods. It was concluded that for large scale applications, MFC’s systems utilizing this novel catholyte as electron acceptor, connection in parallel would be preferable, because of the high open circuit voltage, reduced internal resistance and high current density achieved from such connections.