Removal of azo dyes in textile wastewater using microbial fuel cells and membrane technology
(2022)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Luis, Patricia
- Abstract
- The use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as a bioelectrochemical system (BES) for the treatment of textile wastewater has attracted attention due to the ability to produce bioelectricity from wastewater treatment. However, textile wastewater is far from being an ideal electrolyte for an electrochemical process. It can generate biofouling on electrodes and separators (membranes), affecting greatly the efficiency in such systems. In recent years, different types of membranes have been explored as separators in MFCs, although to our knowledge no nanofiltration membranes have ever been used in such systems. Nanofiltration membranes share advantages with porous and non-porous membranes. In addition, the wide variety of nanofiltration membranes, high oxygen retention, and lower electrical resistance compared to ion-selective membranes normally used in BES, made these types of membranes potential separators. In this work, an integrated process is proposed, including three technologies, i.e., membrane technology, an advanced oxidation process, and microbial fuel cells. Antifouling and self-cleaning membranes are developed as efficient separators for a new generation of osmotic systems (nanofiltration microbial fuel cells) in textile wastewater treatment. A new method of modification of bio-inspired membranes with commercial catalysts (TiO2 and ZnO) showed that the modified membranes acquired antibacterial, self-cleaning, and antifouling properties, improved when the catalysts were combined. The application of this method on low-cost membranes exhibited a significant improvement in COD and color removal, as well as an improvement in bioelectricity production in the MFCs. In order to further improve the activation efficiency of the photocatalysts under visible light and the antifouling properties of the membranes, a new catalyst (ZnO Er/Al) was synthesized, which demonstrated high photocatalytic and antibacterial activity. The new membranes also demonstrated efficient resistance to oxygen crossover and maintained constant osmotic water fluxes during long test periods. These results combined with the wide variety of available nanofiltration membranes open up an interesting line of future research in the development of efficient separators for microbial fuel cells and other BES.
- Affiliations
Citations
Bahamonde, R. (2022). Removal of azo dyes in textile wastewater using microbial fuel cells and membrane technology. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/103410