Abstract
A biorefinery process typically uses about 4-10 times as much water as the amount of biofuel generated. The wastewater produced in a biorefinery process contains residual sugars, 5-furfural, phenolics, and other pretreatment and fermentation byproducts. Treatment of the wastewater can reduce the need for fresh water and potentially add to the environmental benefits of the process. Use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for conversion of the various organics present in a post-fermentation biorefinery stream is reported here. The organic loading was varied over a wide range to assess removal efficiency, coulombic efficiency and power production. A coulombic efficiency of 40% was observed for a low loading of 1% (0.66 g/L) and decreased to 1.8% for the undiluted process stream (66.4 g/L organic loading). A maximum power density of 1180 mW/m2 was observed at a loading of 8%. Excessive loading was found to result in poor electrogenic performance. The results indicate that operation of an MFC at an intermediate loading using dilution and recirculation of the process stream can enable effective treatment with bioenergy recovery.