Treatability studies on wastepaper recycling mill wastewater by using microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Paper industry is one of the largest polluting industries in the world. The treatment of recycled paper mill wastewater is a big challenge; the characteristics of effluent vary from one mill to another. Conventional treatment techniques require a high energy input and more foot print area, so their environmental impact is debatable. Therefore, the need to find reliable, eco-friendly and efficient treatment techniques is urgent. In order to meet the environmental demands and avoid secondary wastewater pollution, Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) are used for simultaneous treatment and energy generation from the wastepaper recycling wastewater.In this research, two lab-scale double chambered microbial fuel cells were developed viz., salt bridge-MFC (Reactor-1) and Proton exchange membrane MFC (Reactor-2) for the treatment of wastepaper recycling wastewater. Simulated wastewaters SWW1-SWW4 are prepared by using cellulose with concentration ranging from 0.5 g/L 2 g/L and utilized for experiments in Reactor 1 and Reactor 2. Wastepaper recycling Industrial Wastewater (IWW) samples were collected from the paper mill located at Chengalpattu, Tamilnadu. The COD values of simulated wastewaters and industrial wastewaters were in the range of 1145-2504 mg/L and 1157-2214 mg/L respectively. newline newline newline