Biodegradation of petroleum wastewater for the production of bioelectricity using activated sludge biomass

This research is based on the treatment of petroleum wastewater (PWW) with pretreated activated sludge for the production of electricity and removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) using microbial fuel cell (MFC).

The application of the MFC system which uses activated sludge biomass (ASB) as a substrate resulted in the reduction of COD by 89.5% of the original value. It generated electricity equivalent to 8.18 mA/m² which can be reused again. This would solve the majority of environmental crises which we are facing today.

This study discusses the application of ASB to enhance the degradation of PWW for the production of a power density of 1012.95 mW/m² when a voltage of 0.75 V (voltage) is applied at 30:70% of ASB when MFC is operated in a continuous mode. Microbial biomass growth was catalyzed using activated sludge biomass. The growth of microbes was observed by scanning through an electron microscope. Through oxidation in the MFC system, bioelectricity is generated which is used in the cathode chamber. Furthermore, the MFC operated using ASB in a ratio of 35 with the current density, which decreased to 494.76 mW/m² at 10% ASB.

Our experiments demonstrate that the efficiency of the MFC system can generate bioelectricity and treat petroleum wastewater by using activated sludge biomass.