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Treatment of biodigester effluent through EC followed by MFC: Pollutants

removal and energy perspective

Article  in  Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy · January 2019

DOI: 10.1002/ep.13139

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Treatment of Biodigester Effluent Through EC
Followed by MFC: Pollutants Removal and
Energy Perspective
Ravi Shankar, a Anil Kumar Varma,b Prasenjit Mondal,b and Sri Chandb
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur Uttar Pradesh, India
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee Uttarakhand, India; pmondfch@iitr.ac.in
(for correspondence)
Published online 00 Month 2019 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ep.13139
The present work deals with the treatment of bio digester
effluent (BDE) using electrocoagulation (EC) followed by con-
tinuous membrane less microbial fuel cell (CML-MFC). BDE
with high organic load and low biodegradability index (BI) is
first treated with EC process, which removes organic load and
improves the BI of treated BDE. Further the EC treated BDE
with relatively low organic load 1000 mg/L and considerable
BI (~0.42) is used as a substrate solution for the CML-MFC
process. It is noted that the BDE with initial organic load of
2500 mg/L can be successfully treated using only EC process,
whereas, only CML-MFC operation can successfully teat EC
treated BDE with low organic load (1000 mg/L). However, in
combined study of EC followed by CML-MFC, the BDE with ini-
tial organic load of 7450 mg/L can be successfully treated to
achieve effluent composition below permissible limit as per
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norm. It is also com-
puted that under the experimental conditions, during the EC
process, approximately 2.466 and 0.537 kJ/g of energy can be
generated from sludge and scum, respectively, whereas,
approximately 48 mV voltage and 0.02 mA current can be
generated from the CML-MFC process. © 2019 American Institute
of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2019
Keywords: BDE, CML-MFC, electrocoagulation, biodegrad-
ability index, energy
INTRODUCTION
High organic contents in industrial wastewater may be used
to produce clean energy. Distillery units generate 8–17 L of
wastewater containing high organics to produce 1 L of alcohol.
Distillery effluents have burly color, high suspended particles,
biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand
(COD), and are acidic in nature [1].
Distillery wastewater (DWW) with significant initial biode-
gradability index (BI) attracts the use of biological processes to
recover the energy as biogas [2]. After biogas recovery, the
remaining liquid is known as bio digester effluent (BDE),
which also contains high organic load with low BI and needs
further treatment [3,4]. Adsorption [5,6], chemical oxidation
[7,8], chemical coagulation [9,10], and other biological treat-
ment processes can be used for the treatment of high organic
containing industrial wastewater. However, due to low BI of
© 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
BDE, biological treatment is not effective for its treatment. In
this regard electro-coagulation (EC) technique can be used as
it can work with wastewater having low BI and also improves
the BI value of treated effluent [11,12], which makes biological
processes effective for polishing stage treatment. Further, the
sludge and scum generated with EC process may be used as a
low-grade solid fuel [13].
EC is the process in which metal plate dissolves in the
water and hydrolyses into hydroxyl groups and produces
metal hydroxides as well as hydrogen gas through different
reactions as shown through Equations 1–4. The metal hydrox-
ides produced in-situ act as coagulant and facilitate the pollut-
ants removal [2,14].
Anodic oxidation : MðsÞ ! Mn + ðaqÞ + ne − ð1Þ
Water dissociationðcathodeÞ : nH2 O + ne − ! n=2H2 + nOH −
ð2Þ
− n
Reaction at basic environment : Mn + nOH ! M OH
+
ð Þ
ð3Þ
Reaction at acidic environment : Mn + + nH2 O
! MðOHÞn + nH + ð4Þ
The EC treated wastewater with significant organic load
may be used as a substrate solution for (CML-MFC) as a polish-
ing stage of treatment [11].
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are electrochemical instruments,
which have potential to produce clean energy from the industrial
waste water by electron generating microbes (EGM). MFCs are
simply the combination of anodic (anaerobic) and cathodic (aer-
obic) compartments containing anode and cathode, which are
separated by salt bridge/membrane (for proton exchange). By
the catalytic activity of microbes, H+ cations and free electrons
are formed in the anodic chamber. The free electrons are accu-
mulated on the anode and then move to cathode through an
external circuit. The H+ cations are moved through the salt
bridge/membrane from anodic to cathodic chamber where, free
electrons, H+ cations and external oxygen react to form water
[15,16]. CML-MFC is a type of MFC in which use of membrane is
avoided to minimize the cost of membrane.
There are some literatures available on both EC and MFC
processes. In most of these studies related to EC, low initial
organic load has been used and effects of operating
1
Table 1. Initial characteristics of BDE.
Parameters Value
pH 4.85
COD (mg/L) 40,000
BOD (mg/L) 4100
BI 0.1025
TOC (mg/L) 11,120
Total solids (mg/L) 259,200
Total dissolve solid (mg/L) 15,840
Total suspended solid (mg/L) 243,360
Chloride contents (mg/L) 1800
Sulphate content (mg/L) 1200
parameters like current density (CD), operating time (OT), pH,
electrode distance (ED), and NaCl concentration have been
studied for the removal of COD, BOD, etc. However, very less
literature is available on the removal of BOD and improve-
ment in BI. Apart from this, energy perspective from the
sludge and scum containing organic loads are also infrequent
in literature. Similarly, various wastewaters have been used as
substrate in CML-MFC [3,14,15], however, very less literature is
available related to the integration of MFC with the other treat-
ment process.
Current study covers the treatment of BDE by EC and CML-
MFC technique in which BDE is initially treated with EC and the
EC treated BDE is treated in CML-MFC. During EC studies, effect
of organic load on the performance of EC, effect on BI and energy
potential of sludge and scum are studied. The power generation
in CML-MFC along with organic removal has also been studied.
Apart from this the combined treatment performance of EC and
CML-MFC has been studied to achieve the treated water quality as
per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norm.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials
BDE was collected from a distillery unit of Bijnor, Uttar Pra-
desh, India. Random selection process was used for the sam-
pling and it was preserved at 4 C in the refrigerator.
Characterization of BDE is given in Table 1. The aluminum
sheets for the electrodes were procured from Roorkee, Uttar-
akhand, India. All the chemicals of AR grade were purchased
from SD Fine Chemicals, Mumbai. Activated sludge from
Municipal wastewater treatment plant (AS-MWTP) Jagjitpur,
Haridwar, India was used as a microbial source for CML-MFC
operation. Major microbes present in AS-MWTP were charac-
terized from MTCC Chandigarh India. Micrococcus species and
Pseudomonas stutzeri were identified as two major microbes
present in AS-MWTP.
Methods
EC Operation
The BDE was diluted to get initial COD range of
1000–20,000 mg/L. For the EC process other operating param-
eters were; current density (CD) 125 A/m2, operating time
(OT) 120 min, NaCl concentration 1.5 g/L, and electrode dis-
tance (ED) 1 cm in each experiment [17]. The energy potential
of sludge and scum at different initial COD under the above
operating conditions has been compared with the energy con-
sumption for the EC treatment of BDE. The EC setup as shown
in Figure 1a with 1.52 L volume was made of Perspex. Al
sheets with area 64 cm2 were used as electrodes. Compound
electrodes were fixed at distance of 1 cm parallelly. Direct cur-
rent (DC) was given to the electrodes in mono polar mode to
provide wanted CD and each test was carried out at stable
CD. Dilution of BDE was done using distilled water as per
Equation 5.
2 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
V 1C 1 ¼ V 2C 2 ð5Þ
where, V1 is the initial volume; V2 is the final volume; C1 is the
initial concentration; and C2 is the final concentration.
Potential energy (E1) of the sludge and scum generated
after EC treatment were calculated from Equation 6.
E 1 ¼ mh ð6Þ
where, m is mass of sludge and scum; h is the heating value of
mixture of sludge and scum.
Heating value of sludge and scum was calculated from
Equation 7
h ¼ x 1 h1 + x 2 h2 ð7Þ
where, x1 and x2 are the mass fraction of sludge and scum,
respectively; h1 and h2 are the calorific values of sludge and
scum, respectively.
Energy consumed during the electrocoagulation process
was calculated from Equation 8.
E ¼ Vit ð8Þ
where, V and i are the voltage and current, respectively, used
in EC process at optimized condition; and t is the treatment
time of EC.
MFC Operation
The EC treated BDE was used in CML-MFC as shown in
Figure 1b. The CML-MFC of present study was circular bioreac-
tor of length 100 and 10 cm diameter (Figure 1b). The CML-MFC
was divided in anodic and cathodic part of length 60 and 40 cm,
respectively. Cathodic and anodic part was separated by filter
media (5 cm) of glass wool and glass beads. Anaerobic environ-
ment was maintained by flowing N2 gas in the feed tank of vol-
ume 27 L. Three anodes and one cathode of graphite with
78.5 cm2 cross section area were used as electrodes. Anodes
were fixed at 25, 40, and 55 cm from the lower part of the reac-
tor. Diluted EC treated BDE with flow rate 1 mL/min was sup-
plied from feed tank to the reactor with a peristaltic pump [18].
CML-MFC was operated at pH 7 and temperature of 35 C  1 C
[19]. Copper wire was used to make all the connection and 50 Ω
external resistance was connected in the circuit. A multimeter
was used to note the voltage across the resistance and it was
connected to a personal computer. The pH of the wastewater
for both EC and CML-MFC were controlled by 1 N NaOH and
1 N H2SO4 solution. At the end of each experiment, treated sam-
ple was centrifuged for 10 min at 10,000 RPM and the clear solu-
tion was used to measure the final color as well as COD of the
treated water. The CML-MFC was operated for 40 days. COD
measurement was done by spectrophotometer (SN 09/17443
LOVIBOND Spectrophotometer, Germany), color measurement
was done by Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectrophotometer
(LAMBDA 35, PerkinElmer instruments, Switzerland) at stan-
dard wavelength of 465 nm [17] and characterization of sludge
and scum was done through scanning electron micrograph
(SEM) and energy-dispersive X-rays spectroscopy (EDAX)
model QUANTA 200 FEG, FEI Netherlands.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Effect of Initial COD on COD and Color Removal by
EC Process
Multiple initial organic load such as 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500,
10,000, 12,500, 15,000, 17,500, and 20,000 mg/L were used for
EC treatment method. Performance of EC treatment method on
color and COD reduction as well as changes in BI of EC
 (a) Power source
Al parallel cathodes A V

Al parallel anodes

Rheostat
Synthetic
Electro wastewater
coagulation

Magnetic bar

Magnetic stirrer

(b)

Figure 1. (a) Experimental setup of EC. (b) Experimental setup of CML-MFC. [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]

treated BDE with the variation of initial organic load are shown
in Figure 2. 110 0.6
From Figure 2, percentage removal of color and COD reduces 100
0.5
with increase in initial organic load. In the present case other 90
parameters particularly CD, initial pH, operating time, NaCl con- 0.4
% Removal

80
centration, and electrode distance, which influence significantly COD 0.3
BI

70
the release of coagulant, remain constant for all the cases. How-
60 Colour
ever, removal of more organic requires more in-situ production of 0.2
coagulants, which is unlikely. Thus, the % removal of color and 50 BI
COD decreases with increase in initial COD concentration of BDE. 0.1
40
From Figure 2 and Table 3 it is clear that at lower initial 30 0
organic load (COD) almost total removal of organics takes 0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 18000 21000
place, which gives maximum reduction of color and COD. At Initial COD (mg/L)
initial organic load of 1000 mg/L, the remaining organic load
in EC treated effluent is approximately 6 mg/L, which is very Figure 2. Effect of initial COD on color, COD removal and BI
less in comparison with the permissible limit as per CPCB. of treated effluent (Conditions: CD 125 A/m2, initial pH 7, OT
Residual color is also very less, and the percentage color 120 min, NaCl concentration 1.5 g/L, ED 1 cm). [Color figure
removal is higher than percentage COD removal. However, at can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
the initial COD (organic load) of 2500, 5000, 7500, 10,000,

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 3

Figure 3. FTIR spectra of (a) scum of BDE; (b) sludge of BDE. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

12,500, 15,000, 17,500, and 20,000 mg/L the remaining COD in
the treated effluents are 69, 410, 1116, 2986, 5056, 7884,
10,738, and 13,756 mg/L, respectively. It seems that the BDE
with initial organic load up to 2500 mg/L can be treated with
the EC process to attain the permissible limit (250 mg/L for
COD and 30 mg/L for BOD) prescribed by CPCB.
During EC treatment process the metallic cations are gener-
ated which react with OH− to produce hydroxides, which
reduce organics (bridge coagulation). In some cases, the big-
ger lattice-like structures are formed from hydroxides and
sweep throughout the water (sweep coagulation). The cations
or hydroxyl ions can also form a precipitate with the pollutants
by neutralizing the charge of the colloidal particles [20]. The
adhesion of bubbles generated with the flocks responsible for
electro-floatation which help to remove pollutants from the
effluents [21,22].
Further, it is noted that the BI of the treated BDE is
improved after the EC treatment for the entire initial
organic load, but BI of treated BDE reduces with increase
in initial organic load. The EC method breaks down the
complex organic and inorganic compounds into smaller
compounds, which is responsible for the improved BI of
the effluent despite decrease in initial organic load of trea-
ted effluent.
Sludge and Scum Analysis
FTIR spectra of scum and sludge generated during electro-
coagulation of BDE are shown in Figure 3a,b, respectively.
From Figure 3a,b it is evident that there is very less varia-
tion in the pattern of FTIR spectra of the sludge and scum,
which indicates the presence of similar functional groups on
the sludge and scum generated during EC of BDE. Functional
groups O H is found in the wavenumber range 3500–3000 cm−1.
Peaks of O H groups are obtained at 2927, 3435 cm−1 for scum
and 2928, 2960 cm−1 for sludge of BDE, respectively. This is due
to the occurrence of CH stretching (symmetric or asymmetric) of
aliphatic acid [23]. Generally, C C (aromatic ring), C H stretch-
ing, and C O group are found in the wavenumber range of
1800–1300 cm−1 [24]. Peaks at wavenumber 1069 cm−1 for scum
of BDE and peaks between 1200–1000 cm−1 for sludge of BDE
are probably due to C O (stretching) group. Groups C H (aro-
matics) with miscellaneous oxides are found in the wavelength
range of 1000–500 cm−1. From Figure 3 it is clear that, small and

(a) Scum (b) Sludge

Figure 4. SEM image of (a) scum of BDE; (b) sludge of BDE. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

4 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep

Table 2. EDAX analysis of sludge and scum generated scum during EC process. The nonporous, crowded nature of
through EC of BDE. sludge favors settling.
The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) analysis
Elements Scum weight % Sludge weight % of sludge and scum of BDE are shown in Table 2. From
Table 2 it is observed that the aluminum content in sludge and
C 37.29 25.40 scum are 17.56% and 10.53%, respectively, for BDE. It seems
O 47.41 53.95 that carbon content in scum is 37.29%, which is more than the
Na 0.73 0.06 carbon content in sludge (25.40%) of BDE. So, scum of BDE
Al 10.53 17.56 can be used as a source of energy and after incineration, alu-
Si 0.21 0.08 minum can be recovered from the ash of both sludge and
S 2.46 2.62 scum [27].
Cl 1.38 0.34 Thermal stability depends on the decomposition tempera-
ture of functional groups and oxides present in the sample.
The thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal
sharp peaks are noted for scum and sludge of BDE. This may be analysis (DTA), and derivative thermos-gravimetric analysis
due to the presence of C X (stretching) groups [25,26]. (DTG) of sludge and scum of BDE are shown in Figure 5a,b,
Sludge and scum generated during the operation of EC pro- respectively.
cess are characterized for their suitable utilization/disposal. TGA analysis shows that, the loss in weight due to the
The scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of sludge and scum removal of moisture and some low molecular weight com-
of BDE are shown in Figure 4a,b, respectively. From Figure 4a, pounds from 25 C to 200 C. The rate of weight loss increases
b, it is noted that scum is more rough and soft than the sludge between 200 C and 500 C due to evolution of CO2 and CO for
of the BDE, which is most likely due to the suspension of both sludge and scum of BDE [17]. The weight loss of scum is

Figure 5. TGA analysis of (a) scum of BDE; (b) sludge of BDE. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 5

 90 75
70
85
Percentage removal
65
Voltage (mV)
80 60
COD removal 55
75 colour removal
50
Voltage generation
70 45
40
65
35
60 30
0 500 1000 1500
Initial COD (mg/L)
Figure 6. Effect of initial COD on voltage generation as well
as color and COD removal (Conditions: substrate flow rate
1 mL/min, temperature 35 C  1 C, anodic pH 7  0.2,
number of anodes3, distance between upper anode and
cathode 20 cm). [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
found more as compare to sludge, which is due to the less car-
bon content in sludge with respect to scum as evident from
Table 2. The weight loss due to the heating in the temperature
range of 500 C–1000 C is 10% and 11% for scum and sludge
of BDE, respectively. The maximum degradation rates are
0.31 mg/min at 310 C and 0.15 mg/min at 80 C for scum and
sludge of BDE, respectively [28].
From Figure 5a,b, it seems that the incineration of these
materials may be carried out within the temperature range of
200 C–600 C and 550 C–700 C for scum and sludge, respec-
tively. The ash content in scum and sludge are found as 40%
and 52%, respectively [17,29]. From Figure 5a,b, it also seems
that the calorific value of sludge is lower than the scum, which
is also supported by the low carbon and high ash in sludge
with respect to scum as evident from EDAX analysis. The sig-
nificant amount of heat around −2.466 J/mg is released from
the scum and around −537 MJ/mg of heat is released from the
sludge of BDE.
From the above discussion it is evident that, for BDE,
sludge and scum contains similar type of functional groups
and from SEM analysis it seems that the scum is more porous
than sludge. Further, EDAX analysis of scum and sludge shows
that these contain greater than 25% carbon content and calo-
rific value of scum is more than the sludge. For BDE the
amount of heat (−2.466 J/mg) released due to oxidation of
scum as shown in Figure 5a indicates that the calorific value of
the scum is lower than the municipal solid wastes but, it can
be used for energy production through incineration [17]. How-
ever, utilization of sludge for energy production through ther-
mal process may not be suitable since its heating value is
negligible (537 MJ/mg). Further, the ash of sludge can be used
for aluminum recovery because of significant aluminum con-
tent (17.48%) in the sludge but the scum may not be suitable
for this process as the aluminum content in the scum is
less (~10%).
Effect of Initial COD on the Reduction of COD and Color
Removal by CML-MFC
Performance of CML-MFC with change in initial organic
load in terms of power generation as well as color and COD
reduction is shown in Figure 6.
From Figure 6 it is noted that with the rise in initial organic
load, the percentage removal of total organics decreases and it
is noted that at initial organic load of 250, 500, 750, 1000, and
1250 mg/L, the residual COD are 45, 99.5, 174, 258, and
450 mg/L, respectively, and related power generations are
6 Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
38, 42, 48, 62, and 68 mV, respectively. This signifies that the
amount of removed organics increases with increase in initial
organic load up to 1000 mg/L and becomes almost constant
thereafter. Since, any wastewater contains multiple com-
pounds, the mechanism for the degradation of each com-
pound may influence the performance of the degradation
pathway of other compounds [30]. It may be possible that with
increase in initial COD the consumption of organics in EC trea-
ted BDE becomes relatively slower due to substrate inhabita-
tion being favored. Further, the increase in voltage generation
with initial organic load is probably due to the presence of
more biodegradable substances in the solution which is
responsible for high free electron generation in the solution.
However, the initial organic loads higher than 1000 mg/L can-
not achieve treated water quality as per CPCB norm. This
means that CML-MFC operation at initial organic load of
approximately 1000 mg/L or less can produce treated water as
per CPCB norm.
Comparison of Individual and Combined Effect of EC
and CML-MFC Process
The results of individual CML-MFC and EC methods on
BDE treatment to get the pollutant concentration below per-
missible limit prescribed by CPCB, are shown in Figure 7a,b.
From Figure 7a, it is noted that single step EC operation with
initial organic load of 2500 mg/L can generate treated effluent
having BOD and COD within allowable limits of 30 mg/L for
BOD and 250 mg/L for COD, respectively. Further, at initial
organic load of 1000 mg/L, CML-MFC can generate treated
water following CPCB norm after 30 days of operation. Since
CML-MFC is a biological treatment process, so effect of BOD
in treated effluent has not been considered.
(a) 3000
COD beforetreatment
2500
COD after treatment
COD value (mg/L)
2000
1500
1000
500
0
EC MFC
(b)
8000
7000 COD value before EC
COD value after EC
6000
COD Value (mg/L)
COD value after EC & CML-MFC
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Bio Digester Effluent
Figure 7. (a) COD before and after treatment for treating BDE
through EC and CML-MFC process individually. (b) Initial and
final COD after treating BDE through combined process
(EC followed by CML-MFC). [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
 18
16
14
12
Energy(kj)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 18000 21000 Figure 9. Voltage generation from EC treated BDE in column
Initial COD (mg/l) CML-MFC (Conditions: anodic pH 7, temperature 35 C  1 C,
Figure 8. Energy from Each run of BDE at different organic load microbes of (MW-AS), flow rate of anodic solution 1 mL/min,
(conditions: initial current density: 125 A/m2, Initial pH: 7 and number of anodes 3, initial COD of BDE 1000 mg/L). [Color
3, time: 120 min, NaCl concentration: 1.5 g/L, electrode distance: figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
1 cm). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Table 3. Energy perspective and consumption in EC process for BDE.

Initial COD (mg/L) 1000 2500 5000 7500 10,000 12,500 15,000 17,500 20,000
COD removed (mg/L) 994 2430 4590 6384 7014 7443.7 7116 6763 6244
COD remains (mg/L) 6 70 410 1116 2986 5056.2 7884 10,736 13,756
Sludge (g each run) 0.9 2.4 4.7 6.4 7.1 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.7
Scum (g each run) 0.7 1.5 2.8 4.3 4.4 4.8 4.3 4.5 4.5
Energy consumption to treat BDE (at optimized condition) 64.512 kJ

From Figure 7a it is noted that EC process improves the
BI of the BDE. So, from Figure 7b, combination of both pro-
cesses for BDE treatment, improves the overall treatment
capacity. Treatment of BDE with EC for initial organic load
7450 mg/L produces treated effluent of organic load
1000 mg/L (from Figure 2). At this organic load EC treatment
process improves the BI from 0.1025 to approximately 0.4
which show the 400 mg/L of BOD in treated effluent. Fur-
ther, EC treated BDE effluent is treated with CML-MFC and
produces effluent of organic load below 250 mg/L which
follow the CPCB norm. So, use of individual treatment tech-
nique for BDE with initial organic load 2500 and 1000 mg/L
can be treated with EC and CML-MFC respectively to
achieve the water quality as per CPCB norm. However, with
the use of EC and CML-MFC treatment technique succes-
sively, BDE with initial organic load of 7450 mg/L can be
treated to achieve the treated water quality as per
CPCB norm.
Energy Perspective from BDE
Energy Potential of Sludge and Scum Generated from EC
Energy potential of the produced scum and sludge of BDE
at different initial organic load, as calculated from Equations 6
and 7 is shown in Figure 8.
From Figure 8, it is clear that with increase in initial COD
(1000–20,000 mg/L), the energy generation potential from sludge
and scum increases up to initial COD of 12,500 mg/L. From
Table 3, amount of removed COD increases with initial COD up
to 12,500 mg/L and decreases thereafter. Thus, sludge and scum
generation is also maximum at this initial COD value, which are
the sources of energy.
So, from energy recovery point of view initial COD of
12,500 mg/L for the BDE is most suitable and under the oper-
ating conditions, approximately 64.512 KJ of energy is con-
sumed as computed from Equation 8.
Voltage from EC Treated BDE Using CML-MFC
Average steady state voltage generation with CML-MFC
under the optimal conditions [18] of EC treated BDE for initial
organic load (COD) of 1000 mg/L is 48 mV (Figure 9). From
Figure 9, it is clear that voltage generation decreases for
approximately 2 days then increases up to 10–12 days after
that it becomes almost constant.
This is caused by the adaptation of the microbes in new
substrate solution as well as the existence of multiple
organics in the substrate solution. BDE contains various
types of sugar, acids, and melanoidins and chemical proper-
ties of melanoidins resemble humic substances, that is,
acidic, polymeric, and highly dispersed colloids [31]. These
complex compounds are not equally susceptible to the bac-
teria added in the substrate solution and due to the presence
of complex compounds in the wastewater, biological activ-
ity is also affected [32,33]. However, the use of appropriate
design, effective material (electrode, catalyst, etc.) and most
suitable microbes can enhance the performance of
CML-MFC.
CONCLUSION
High organic containing wastewater with low BI needs
alternative chemical treatment route with considerable efforts
and cost. In comparison with the conventional chemical treat-
ment technique, integrative use of EC and CML-MFC can play
an important role in simultaneous COD removal and energy
production. EC process needs less installation, operation cost,
less area in comparison with many conventional treatment
techniques. Whereas, use of bacterial route in MFC, reduces
the use of chemical resources. Scum and sludge generated
during EC process contain considerable calorific value, so
sludge and scum of BDE can be used in the incineration pro-
cess. EC process improves the BI of BDE from 0.1025 to 0.42
and the improved BI of treated BDE attracts the biological
route for further treatment. Overall, combined use of EC and
CML-MFC improves the treatment capacity of the wastewater.
Under the most appropriate condition, combined use of EC
and CML-MFC for the treatment of BDE with initial organic
load 7450 mg/L can be possible. At this organic load, around
1.52 L effluent can generate approximately 15.9 kJ of energy
from sludge and scum produced during EC process and
approximately 48 mV voltage and 0.02 mA current can be gen-
erated with the CML-MFC.

Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep 7

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