Copper-containing wastewater treatment and copper recovery by using a continuous flow microbial fuel cell

A microbial fuel cell is a device of directly converting chemical energy into electricity with the microbial metabolism. Graphite rods were used as electrodes, organic wastewater was used as substrate, anaerobic activated sludge was used as anaerobic bacteria and copper-containing wastewater was used as catholyte. A continuous flow dual chamber microbial fuel cell was constructed. The feasibility of electricity producing via degradation of wastewater by anaerobic bacteria in anode chamber and copper recovery from copper-containing wastewater were studied. The results showed that a continuous flow microbial fuel cell could produce electricity and could be used to treat copper-containing wastewater, the maximum current density was 4.4 mA m⁻², the removal rate of Cu²⁺ was 99%, and the sediment on the cathode was a mixture of Cu and Cu₂O.