The potential of aquatic plant biomass waste from harvesting phytogreen system to generate electricity by using microbial fuel cell / Misnawati Bohari

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth Resources

Project Paper (Bachelors of Civil Engineering) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2015

Bibliography : p. 52-55

Development environmental technology is now more focused on how to restore the damaged environment naturally. Lots of efforts have been made by the authorities to preserve the natural resources and a new treatment method has been introduced that uses the natural resources. Technology called Phytogreen which is environmentally friendly that use aquatic plant life to reduce and ultimately eliminate pollutants from domestic wastewater or industrial wastewater. At the same time, alternative energy is an increasing need in the day of globalization. Then Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology is the best solution to overcome these problems. MFC is a new method of renewable energy recovery that uses bacteria to generate electricity from waste material. For this study, MFC is used to produce electricity from aquatic plant biomass from harvesting Phytogreen. The aim for this study is to determine the potential of aquatic plant biomass waste from harvesting Phytogreen system for generating electricity and to determine the efficiency & effectiveness between two different sizes of electrodes in MFC. The aquatic plants that used in this study are Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes), Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Cattail, (Thypa angustifolia). The parameters tested in this research are Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Temperature and pH value. All the parameters have been conducted based on the APHA Method in Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater 1998. The maximum voltage that observed in large and small electrode was 0.553V and 0.374V that both produce by Integrated Aquatic Plant. The maximum BOD value is 47.05 mg/L by Integrated Aquatic Plant in the large electrode meanwhile for small electrode is 38.2 mg/L also from Integrated Aquatic Plant. Meanwhile, the maximum COD value produced is 24000 mg/L from Integrated Aquatic Plant at large electrode and at small electrode was obtain the maximum COD value is 23100 mg/L also produce by Integrated Aquatic Plant. So it can be conclude that MFC is one of the initiatives which can generate electricity from waste aquatic plant biomass from harvesting Phytogreen system. Thus, aquatic plant biomass waste can be a new source of alternative energy which will help to bring the world to becoming a sustainable and more environmentally friendly place