Electricity Generation and Wastewater Treatment of Oil Refinery in Microbial Fuel Cells Using Pseudomonas putida

• Main Authors: Dip Majumder, Jyoti Prakash Maity, Min-Jen Tseng, Vanita Roshan Nimje, Hau-Ren Chen, Chien-Cheng Chen, Young-Fo Chang, Tsui-Chu Yang, Chen-Yen Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2014-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: microbial fuel cell; oil refinery; air-cathode; Pseudomonas putida; chemical oxygen demand
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/15/9/16772

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a novel platform for treating wastewater and at the same time generating electricity. Using Pseudomonas putida (BCRC 1059), a wild-type bacterium, we demonstrated that the refinery wastewater could be treated and also generate electric current in an air-cathode chamber over four-batch cycles for 63 cumulative days. Our study indicated that the oil refinery wastewater containing 2213 mg/L (ppm) chemical oxygen demand (COD) could be used as a substrate for electricity generation in the reactor of the MFC. A maximum voltage of 355 mV was obtained with the highest power density of 0.005 mW/cm2 in the third cycle with a maximum current density of 0.015 mA/cm2 in regard to the external resistor of 1000 Ω. A maximum coulombic efficiency of 6 × 10−2% was obtained in the fourth cycle. The removal efficiency of the COD reached 30% as a function of time. Electron transfer mechanism was studied using cyclic voltammetry, which indicated the presence of a soluble electron shuttle in the reactor. Our study demonstrated that oil refinery wastewater could be used as a substrate for electricity generation.