IIT Jodhpur researchers use plants to generate electricity from wastewater in microbial fuel cells
New Delhi Sep 21 PTI Plant-based microbial fuel cells can generate power profitably from wastewater compared to algae-based systems researchers from Indian Institute of Technology IIT Jodhpur have foundThe results of their work sponsored by the central governments Department of Science and Technology has been recently published in the journal Bioresource TechnologyAccording to the three-member team wastewater treatment is an important activity in any civilised society and the increasing generation of large amounts of domestic wastewater has necessitated development of newer treatment methods that are energy efficient and scalableOrganic waste material have a lot of latent energy and domestic waste contains nine times more energy than the treatment consumes There has been interest all over the world to generate energy from waste during the process of waste treatment the team claimedA Microbial Fuel Cell MFC is a device that uses microbes to convert organic matter into wastewater directly into electrical energy While the idea of using microbes to produce electricity was proposed as early as 1911 by Michael Potter a professor of botany at the University of Durham its use in fuel cells is a recent development and promises to solve two separate problems — the treatment of waste and energy generation said Meenu Chhabra Associate Professor IIT JodhpurIn MFCs live microbes act on the waste organic matter to release the electrons that are extracted with an external load thereby generating power Photosynthetic MFCs uses algae or plant to generate oxygen from waste at the cathode of the fuel cell she added Chhabra who led the research explained that algae-based systems have been extensively studied in the recent years because algae grow faster and easily but are sensitive to cultivation conditions Plant systems are slower to build and have lower efficiencies than algae-based MFCs but are more robustWe have experimentally compared the performance of algae and plant-based MFCs under similar operational conditions and wastewater sources she saidThe researchers compared the two in terms of pollutant removal efficiency and efficiency of electrical energy generation They used Canna Indica for plant-based MFC and Chlorella vulgaris for the algae-based MFC This study was conducted under outdoor conditions using natural wastewater from decentralised wastewater treatment plant of IIT JodhpurWe found that plant MFCs are better suited because they are robust stable and achieve high power output This observation is significant because plant systems are currently underrated because of their low growth rate and large space requirements than micro algae-based systems but it seems that the power output overrides the above problemsPlant-based microbial fuel cells can be easily installed in natural wetland systems for in-situ bioremediation of waste and power generation Such fuel cells can be easily installed as artificial wetlands at any location where wastewater is collected and the power generated can be used to power small devices such as LEDs in remote locations Chhabra saidThe IIT Jodhpur team plans to explore microbial fuel cells further and study such aspects as microbial communities analysis long-term operation rhizosphere characterisation and design optimisation in order to realise the potential of MFCs in wastewater treatment and alternative power generationBesides Chhabra other members of the team included Arti Sharma Sanjana Gajbhiye and Sweta Chauhan PTI GJS KJ
New Delhi Sep 21 PTI Plant-based microbial fuel cells can generate power profitably from wastewater compared to algae-based systems researchers from Indian Institute of Technology IIT Jodhpur have foundThe results of their work sponsored by the central governments Department of Science and Technology has been recently published in the journal Bioresource TechnologyAccording to the three-member team wastewater treatment is an important activity in any civilised society and the increasing generation of large amounts of domestic wastewater has necessitated development of newer treatment methods that are energy efficient and scalableOrganic waste material have a lot of latent energy and domestic waste contains nine times more energy than the treatment consumes There has been interest all over the world to generate energy from waste during the process of waste treatment the team claimedA Microbial Fuel Cell MFC is a device that uses microbes to convert organic matter into wastewater directly into electrical energy While the idea of using microbes to produce electricity was proposed as early as 1911 by Michael Potter a professor of botany at the University of Durham its use in fuel cells is a recent development and promises to solve two separate problems — the treatment of waste and energy generation said Meenu Chhabra Associate Professor IIT JodhpurIn MFCs live microbes act on the waste organic matter to release the electrons that are extracted with an external load thereby generating power Photosynthetic MFCs uses algae or plant to generate oxygen from waste at the cathode of the fuel cell she added Chhabra who led the research explained that algae-based systems have been extensively studied in the recent years because algae grow faster and easily but are sensitive to cultivation conditions Plant systems are slower to build and have lower efficiencies than algae-based MFCs but are more robustWe have experimentally compared the performance of algae and plant-based MFCs under similar operational conditions and wastewater sources she saidThe researchers compared the two in terms of pollutant removal efficiency and efficiency of electrical energy generation They used Canna Indica for plant-based MFC and Chlorella vulgaris for the algae-based MFC This study was conducted under outdoor conditions using natural wastewater from decentralised wastewater treatment plant of IIT JodhpurWe found that plant MFCs are better suited because they are robust stable and achieve high power output This observation is significant because plant systems are currently underrated because of their low growth rate and large space requirements than micro algae-based systems but it seems that the power output overrides the above problemsPlant-based microbial fuel cells can be easily installed in natural wetland systems for in-situ bioremediation of waste and power generation Such fuel cells can be easily installed as artificial wetlands at any location where wastewater is collected and the power generated can be used to power small devices such as LEDs in remote locations Chhabra saidThe IIT Jodhpur team plans to explore microbial fuel cells further and study such aspects as microbial communities analysis long-term operation rhizosphere characterisation and design optimisation in order to realise the potential of MFCs in wastewater treatment and alternative power generationBesides Chhabra other members of the team included Arti Sharma Sanjana Gajbhiye and Sweta Chauhan PTI GJS KJ
