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8.8.5 Artificial wastewater

The wastewater that is artificially produced for research works is called artificial
wastewater. It is also called synthetic wastewater. While using the natural wastewa-
ter, it should be stored in the cold condition; it shows different characteristics while
testing it. So, artificial wastewater is employed for avoiding the change in charac-
teristics of the wastewater and to maintain the same characteristics throughout the
research work.

8.9 Conclusion and future prospects of microbial
fuel cell

The MFC inoculated with mixed anaerobic sludge demonstrated its effectiveness as
a wastewater treatment process along with electricity production, without electrode
and membrane. The existence of MFC technology has surfeit of applications in the
day-to-day lives, as it is environment friendly and more importantly a green tech-
nology. There are more challenges left over for the complete utilization of MFCs,
to make it cost effective, to fabricate the innovative MFC bioreactors for industrial
effluent treatment. Identification of new microorganisms is essential to treat con-
taminated effluent with generation of electricity. There is a broad scope for design
and development of these reactors as the power density is too low for consumption
in various industrial applications. Apart from that, the organism may be genetically
altered in order to form high reducing microbial strains with wide range of MFC
applications. Future researches are necessary to minimize the internal resistance
and corrosion related problems in MFC. MFCs can also have utilization in army
applications in order to power up remote surveillance and communication gears for
use in unmanned applications. Further, potential researches on optimization of the
electricity production from the two-chambered MFC are also necessary. With fur-
ther attempt, it could be possible to enhance it for the scale-up and commercial
applications. In addition, MFC as a continuous reactor may also be studied. Further
research toward maintaining aerated condition in the reactor to produce more elec-
tricity may be needed. Thus the simultaneous treatment of wastewater along with
electricity production might facilitate in compensating the expenses incurred for the
industrial effluent management. However, MFC technology is still in initial stages
and needs special attention in future research attempts.

References

Ahn, Y., Hatzell, M.C., Zhang, F., 2014. J. Power Sources 249, 440 445.
Du, Z., Li, H., Gu, T., 2007. Biotechnol. Adv. 25, 464 482.