Power generation from waste water using lactobacillus

Abstract

Sewage generation is ever increasing problem and poses several threats to the environment in general and human health in specific. Its disposal is also a matter to deal with sensibly. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are emerging as promising technology for the treatment of wastewaters. Microbial fuel cells (MFC) can be used to directly generate electricity from organic matter, but the voltage produced by a single reactor is known to be 0.5-1.0V. Voltage can be increased by stacking cells, i.e. by linking individual reactors in series. In present study electricity was generated from sewage wastewater in MFC with carbon cathode and zinc anode. Anode chamber with inoculums of lactobacillus is used as biological reactor for the fermentation of the substrates to fuel products without the use of any mediator. The highest voltage output obtained by the MFC with Zn-C electrodes was 1.09V at the sixth day. This MFC being cost effective and user-friendly can prove to be a potential alternative in this field of technology. Development of the large scale MFCs namely, wastewater, sewage and garbage fuel cells are currently underway. This is one of the most exciting and novel methodology that will overcome the problems of energy management which is the global issue today.