Bioelectricity Production through Dual-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell Using Tofu Liquid Waste: Effect of Differences in Electrolyte Solutions

Abstract

The Dual-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell system has been successfully developed to produce bioelectricity based on tofu liquid waste. In this study, variations of the operating parameters of the MFC were carried out, namely differences in electrolyte solutions of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) and potassium dichromate (K₂Cr₂O₇). In addition, the configuration of the reactor circuit used is a series reactor circuit and a single reactor. The results of the MFC process show that the maximum electric voltage and current strength values obtained in the KMnO₄ electrolyte solution are 880 mV and 0.352 mA, respectively. Meanwhile, the maximum electric voltage and current strength in the K₂Cr₂O₇ electrolyte solution are 569 mV and 0.228 mA. Furthermore, the use of potassium permanganate is known to produce a maximum power density of 20.88 mW/cm², which is two times greater than the maximum power density value produced by potassium dichromate, which is 8.73 mW/cm². Whereas the difference in the reactor series shows that the series reactor circuit can increase the maximum power density value of 356.61 mW/cm², higher than the single reactor which is 26.21 mW/cm². Based on all the data generated from this study, tofu liquid waste has the potential as the main ingredient in the MFC process to produce bioelectricity.