A Novel Energy-from-Waste Approach for Electrical Energy Production by Galvano-Fenton Process

A novel approach allowing the production of electrical energy by an advanced oxidation process is proposed to eliminate organic micropollutants (MPs) in wastewaters. This approach is based on associating the Galvano-Fenton process to the generation of electrical power. In the previous studies describing the Galvano-Fenton (GF) process, iron was directly coupled to a metal of more positive potential to ensure degradation of organic pollutants without any possibility of producing electrical energy. In this new approach, the Galvano-Fenton process is constructed as an electrochemical cell with an external circuit allowing recovering electrons exchanged during the process. In this study, Malachite Green (MG) dye was used as a model of organic pollutant. Simultaneous MG degradation and electrical energy production with the GF method were investigated in batch process. The investigation of various design parameters emphasis that utilization of copper as a low-cost cathode material in the galvanic couple, provides the best treatment and electrical production performances. Moreover, these performances are improved by increasing the surface area of the cathode. The present work reveals that the GF process has a potential to provide an electrical power density of about 200 W m^-2. These interesting performances indicate that this novel Energy-from-Waste strategy of the GF process could serve as an ecological solution for wastewater treatment.