Volume 44, Issue 12 pp. 9254-9265
SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW PAPER

Microalgae-microbial fuel cell (mMFC): an integrated process for electricity generation, wastewater treatment, CO2 sequestration and biomass production

Adi Kusmayadi

Adi Kusmayadi

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

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Yoong Kit Leong

Yoong Kit Leong

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

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Hong-Wei Yen

Hong-Wei Yen

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Praha, Czechia

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Chi-Yu Huang

Chi-Yu Huang

Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

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Cheng-Di Dong

Cheng-Di Dong

Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

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Jo-Shu Chang

Corresponding Author

Jo-Shu Chang

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Research Center for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

Correspondence

Hong-Wei Yen and Jo-Shu Chang, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan.

Email: [email protected] (H.-W. Y.) and [email protected] (J.-S. C.)

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First published: 19 May 2020
Citations: 35

Funding information: Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology, Grant/Award Numbers: 107-2221-E-006-112-MY3, 108-2218-E-029-002-MY3, MOST 109-3116-F-006-016-CC1

Summary

The world today is facing a crisis of energy and environmental pollution. Conventional or photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an advanced “green” energy technology that utilizes living microorganisms to convert biochemical or light energy into electricity through metabolic reaction and photosynthesis, offering a potential solution for the above-mentioned crisis. Further incorporating microalgae into MFC, microalgae-microbial fuel cell (mMFC) integrates electricity generation, wastewater treatment, CO2 sequestration and biomass production in a single, self-sustainable technology. This review first describes the fundamentals of MFC as well as its applications in treating domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastewaters. Then, mMFC-based configurations and applications with its advantages compared with MFC are explained in particular, together with the parameters governing its performance. Lastly, the opportunities and challenges involved in the development of mMFCs are also explored.

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