Generation of electricity from whey: An electrochemical process

Sreejon Das, Abu Yousuf, Md. Nasir Uddin, Maksudur Rahman Khan, Ahmed Nazmus Sakib

Abstract


This study is concentrated on the electricity generation from whey over and done with a fabricated electrochemical cell. Whey (milk serum) is one of the prominent sources of bio-electrolyte because of containing abundant amount of branched-chain amino acids. Moreover, the pH value of fresh whey was found about 3.1-3.3. Two categories of preservation techniques have been revealed by thermal treatment and adding 2% phenol by volume. It was observed that phenol treated whey was free form microbial attack for longer time compared to that of thermal treatment. In agitation assisted bio-electrochemical reactor, voltage and power density were increased with the increase of electrode surface area. Maximum 17.35 volt was obtained from 6.5 liters of whey through an agitation assisted electrochemical reactor.  In addition, commercial alloy electrode shows satisfactory results on power generation and reducing internal resistance compares with the experimental pure metal electrode.

Keywords


Bio-electricity; Whey; Bio-electrochemical reactor; Amino acid; Baffle agitation system

Full Text:

PDF

References


A. Yadav, P. Panda, and B. Bag, “The performance improvement of microbial fuel cells using different waste-sludge as an inoculumâ€, Energ. Source. Part A, vol. 35, pp. 1828-1835, 2013.

M. Balat, “Microbial fuel cells as an alternative energy optionâ€, Energ. Source. Part A, vol. 32, pp. 26-35, 2009.

M.M. Rhaman, “Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Sustainable Future of Bangladeshâ€, Int. J. Renew. Energ. Res., Vol. 3, pp. 777-780, 2013.

T. Sangeetha and M. Muthukumar, “Catholyte performance as an influencing factor on electricity production in a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell employing food processing wastewaterâ€, Energ. Source. Part A, vol. 33, pp. 1514-1522, 2011.

A. Gurung and S.-E. Oh, “The Improvement of Power Output from Stacked Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)â€, Energ. Source. Part A, vol. 34, pp. 1569-1576, 2012.

S. Venkata Mohan, G. Mohanakrishna, B.P. Reddy, R. Saravanan and P. Sarma, “Bioelectricity generation from chemical wastewater treatment in mediatorless (anode) microbial fuel cell (MFC) using selectively enriched hydrogen producing mixed culture under acidophilic microenvironmentâ€, Biochem. Eng. J., vol. 39, pp. 121-130, 2008.

Z. Li, X. Zhang and L. Lei, “Electricity production during the treatment of real electroplating wastewater containing Cr6+ using microbial fuel cellâ€, Process Biochem., vol. 43, pp. 1352-1358, 2008.

K. Palaniappan, R. Govindarasu and R. Parthiban, “Investigation of Flow Mal-distribution in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stackâ€, Int. J. Renew. Energ. Res., vol. 2, pp. 652-656, 2012.

P. Kumaraswamy and S. Datta, “Bangladeshi gas misses India's energy drive?â€, Energ. policy, vol. 34, pp. 1971-1973, 2006.

A. Ghaly and M. Kamal, “Submerged yeast fermentation of acid cheese whey for protein production and pollution potential reductionâ€, Water Res., vol. 38, pp. 631-644, 2004.

P. Börgardts, W. Krischke, W. Trösch and H. Brunner, “Integrated bioprocess for the simultaneous production of lactic acid and dairy sewage treatmentâ€, Bioprocess Eng., vol. 19, pp. 321-329, 1998.

P. Hobman, “Review of processes and products for utilization of lactose in deproteinated milk serumâ€, J. Dairy Sci., vol. 67, pp. 2630-1653, 1984.

U. Blum and S.R. Shafer, “Microbial populations and phenolic acids in soilâ€, Soil Biol. Biochem., vol. 20, pp. 793-800, 1988.

A. Kuiters and C. Denneman, “Water-soluble phenolic substances in soils under several coniferous and deciduous tree speciesâ€, Soil Biol. Biochem., vol. 19, pp. 765-769, 1987.

M.G. Fontana and N.D. Greene, Corrosion engineering, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, 1978.

Y. Fan, H. Hu, and H. Liu, “Enhanced Coulombic efficiency and power density of air-cathode microbial fuel cells with an improved cell configurationâ€, J. Power Sources, vol. 171, pp. 348-354, 2007.

A.R. Prazeres, F. Carvalho and J. Rivas, “Cheese whey management: A reviewâ€, J. Environ. Manag., vol. 110, pp. 48-68, 2012.

D.T. Whipple, E.C. Finke and P.J. Kenis, “Microfluidic reactor for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide: the effect of pHâ€, Electrochem. Solid St., vol. 13, pp. B109-B11, 2010.

K.S. Yang, G. Mul and J.A. Moulijn, “Electrochemical generation of hydrogen peroxide using surface area-enhanced Ti-mesh electrodesâ€, Electrochim. Acta, vol. 52, pp. 6304-6309, 2007.

D.A. Jones, Principles and prevention of corrosion, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ, 1996.

G.C. Moran and P. Labine, Corrosion Monitoring in Industrial Plants Using Nondestructive Testing and Electrochemical Methods, ASTM International, Montreal, Canada, 1986.

M. Di Lorenzo, K. Scott, T.P. Curtis and I.M. Head, “Effect of increasing anode surface area on the performance of a single chamber microbial fuel cellâ€, Chem. Eng. J., vol. 156, pp. 40-48, 2010.

K. Guthe, “Polarization and Internal Resistance of Electrolytic Cellsâ€, Phys. Rev. (Series I), vol. 7, pp. 193, 1898.




DOI (PDF): https://doi.org/10.20508/ijrer.v4i3.1279.g6403

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Online ISSN: 1309-0127

Publisher: Gazi University

IJRER is cited in SCOPUS, EBSCO, WEB of SCIENCE (Clarivate Analytics);

IJRER has been cited in Emerging Sources Citation Index from 2016 in web of science.

WEB of SCIENCE in 2025; 

h=35,

Average citation per item=6.59

Last three Years Impact Factor=(1947+1753+1586)/(146+201+78)=5286/425=12.43

Category Quartile:Q4