Talib R. Abbas; Majid A. Dixon; Mustafa Hussein Al-Furaiji
Abstract
A Three-chambers MDC was made using three identical cubicalplexi-glass sections. Each chamber has an effective volume of 35 cm3. An anionexchange membrane (AEM) was used to separate ...
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A Three-chambers MDC was made using three identical cubicalplexi-glass sections. Each chamber has an effective volume of 35 cm3. An anionexchange membrane (AEM) was used to separate the anode from thedesalination chambers while a cation exchange membrane (CEM) was used toseparate the cathode from the desalination chambers. Two graphite sheets wereused as anode and cathode electrodes. Biotic experiments have included aircathode MDC fed with synthetic municipal wastewater, Bio-cathode MDC inwhich the cathode chamber was inoculated with microalgae as an oxygensource and air-cathode MDC was fed with floated oil layer in the anodechamber as an organic source. Maximum power density obtained from theMDC was 121 mW/m2. The corresponding current density was 410 mA/m2.Maximum power density obtained in this study was in consistency with thatpresented in previous studies. Maximum coulombic efficiency and chargeefficiency achieved were 9% and 165% respectively. The results of this studyconfirmed the validity of using MDC technology to treat municipal wastewateras well as oil, desalinate brackish water and generate electric powersimultaneously. Moreover, the results revealed the possibility of using mixedculture algae, available in the Iraqi environment, in the cathode chamber as anoxygen source to develop more energy efficient MDC. Further study deals withdifferent system configurations and different operating conditions are needed.