Microbial fuel cells: Insight into simultaneous wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation

Burgeoning industrialization has escalated the energy demand and amplified the insistence on depleting petroleum-based reservoirs. Subsequently, this has imposed a study to pinpoint renewable alternative sources. Employing renewable resources promotes energy production coupled with environmental sus-tainability. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have an encouraging role in producing sustainable and viable elec-trical energy. It transforms chemical energy into electrical energy with the assistance of microorganisms acting as biocatalysts. It is an emerging technology that has the potential to treat wastewater with bioe-lectricity production simultaneously. However, scaling up this technology is a major challenge as a plethora of technical constraints limits its application in the real world. This review highlights MFC performance in terms of power generation by utilizing various wastewaters as substrate. Moreover, it sheds light on dif-ferent MFC designs, mechanisms, and parameters affecting MFC performance along with their pros and cons to generate maximum power output. It concludes possible ways to combat its drawbacks and discusses its future prospects. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. CC_BY_4.0

Automated summary

This article introduces the role of microbial fuel cells in sustainable and viable electrical energy production, as well as its potential in wastewater treatment and bioelectricity production. The article also discusses the limitations of the technology and proposes possible ways to address its drawbacks.