Treatment of distillery wastewater using single chamber and double chambered MFC

Distillery wastewater was treated in Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) at ambient room temperature which varied between 27–32°C. Microbial Fuel Cells can be simultaneously used for the treatment of wastewater and generation of electricity. In this study single chamber MFC and double chambered MFC were compared for the distillery wastewater treatment and generation of electricity. Micro-organisms present in distillery wastewater and sewage were used as inoculum, and distillery wastewater acted as substrate. Single chamber MFC was efficient and found to be producing maximum current of 0.84 mA, power density of 28.15 mW/m² where as double chambered MFC produced a maximum current of 0.36 rnA and power density of 17.76 mW/m²• Double chambered MFC was efficient in the removal of COD (64% removal) when compared with single chamber MFC which attained 61% COD removal efficiency. The removal of dissolved solids in both single and double chambered MFC was found to be 48%. Five varied feed concentrations were loaded to both the single and double chambered MFC and the systems were stable. The COD and dissolved solids removal observed in distillery wastewater might be attributed to the microbial catalyzed electrochemical reactions occurring in the anodic chamber of single and double chambered MFC.