Enhancing the efficiency of ceramic native soil membrane using Zircon in a continuous microbial fuel cell for wastewater treatment and sustainable energy

In this proof-of-concept study, Zircon (Zirconium orthosilicate, ZrSiO4) was used for modification of a cheap, stable and native Kalporgan's soil (KS) as ceramic separator membrane (CSM) for application in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for both real wastewater treatment and generating energy. The performance of the MFCs was evaluated using different separators under flow mode operation. The different properties of the bare KS and acidic leaching KS (KLS) membrane such as porosity, proton exchange, electrical conductivity, stability as well as the structure of the membrane were studied. The porosity of the bare KS membrane was increased 7.8% by using 10% of zircon but it was slightly increased by using KLS as the membrane. Indeed, the increase in the amount of modifiers did not show an obvious increase in porosity. This decreasing is relative to the increasing of the melt phase of the ceramic membrane in presence of the zirconium when the membrane is fired in the furnace. A membrane including 10% of Zircon was significantly shown decreasing MFC's internal resistance from 977.4 to 226.4 omega with an increase in both current density from 102.0 to 440.0 mA/m(2) and columbic efficiency from 27.0% to 69.0%. The results of this research demonstrate that Zircon is a suitable additive to improve the physical properties of fabricated ceramic membranes to enhance the performance of the MFC with a gaining power density of approximately 10-fold in comparison with native soil.

Automated summary

In this study, Zircon was used to modify a native soil as a ceramic separator membrane for microbial fuel cells. The addition of Zircon greatly improved the performance of the fuel cells.