Performance Investigation of the Reverse Anoxic/Anaerobic/Oxic Microbial Fuel Cell

A reverse anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (A2O) process is recognized as a developed biological nutrient removal process for wastewater treatment. A few researchers recently integrated a microbial fuel cell (MFC) into an A2O process to generate electricity during wastewater treatment. However, no published studies show the outcome of combining the MFC with the reverse A2O process. The performance of a reverse A2O-MFC during the treatment of raw duck pond water was investigated in this study. For suitable electrode placement, nine patterns of anode and cathode location (CH01-CH09) were also investigated. As a result, 60-79%, 14-52%, 57-82%, and 50-82% of phosphates, nitrates, total ammonia nitrogen, and COD were removed, respectively. Lineweaver-Burk plots could be used to estimate the system's phosphate removal rates. The highest electrical energy was observed at CH05 (162.5 Wh) in the first period of the treatment operation and at CH02 (710.3 Wh) in the second period. The electrode placement patterns of CH05, where the anode and cathode were installed in an anaerobic tank and an oxic tank, and CH02, where the anode and cathode were installed in an anoxic tank and an anaerobic tank, were recommended for the reverse A2O-MFC with a 35-cm electrode distance.