E3S Web of Conferences 257, 01008 (2021) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202125701008
AESEE 2021

Microbial Fuel Cell for Renewable Energies Generation from

Manure Treatment
Yuanpeng Sun1, †, Tianxu Huang2, †, Mai Kang3,*, †, Zhijia Cai4, †
1 Environmental Engineering, Lancaster University College at Beijing Jiaotong University, Weihai 264200, China
2 Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou 515063, China
3,* School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 511436, China
4 Engineering Department, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond 46323, US

†These authors contributed equally.

Abstract: In the process of society, high-density livestock farms have developed rapidly to satisfy the
increasing demand for meat products. Excessive wastewater from the livestock farms accordingly brought
multiple pollution and deteriorate the environment, with the wastewater containing abundant chemical energy
regarded as futility. Furthermore, the ingredients of wastewater varied from distinct livestock farms as a result
of different animal feeding habits. Consequently, it is a necessity for specific wastewater treatment applied to
a certain farm to control various pollution incidents while effectively recovering the potential chemical energy
in wastewater. Microbial fuel cell, a device that converts chemical energy in the organic matter directly into
electrical energy by a microorganism, is expected to be integrated with the existing wastewater treatment
systems to make up for the shortcomings of existing technologies, improve the treatment efficiency and
energy recovery rate. Therefore, it is a predictable trend for the microbial fuel cell to be combined with the
traditional farm wastewater treatment system. This article demonstrates two traditional manure treatment
methods: composting and biogas fermentation, followed by an evaluation of four advanced wastewater
treatment technologies merged with microbial fuel cell. It is concluded that incorporating microbial fuel cells
with separate wastewater treatment system will be a consequential sustainable development strategy in the
future, with the purpose of fecal water treatment and energy recovery efficiently achieved.

clean and can be used for heating and cooking, which

saves trees, thus reducing deforestation.
1 Introduction This article mainly discusses the influence of manure
Under the premise of global economic development, the on environmental pollution, composting and biogas
global demand for edible meat has risen, and the rapid methods, as well as the application of different
development of animal husbandry has also brought a large electrochemical microbial methods on manure treatment.
number of livestock and poultry manure that needs to be
processed. A large number of feces will cause a large 2 The pollution characteristics of
amount of pollution due to improper treatment, also cause different types of manure
a large amount of waste of organic and energy resources.
Manure treatment thus has become an issue of concern in
many farms in order to adequate their productions to the 2.1 Types of pollution from livestock breeding
requirements of available arable lands.
Currently, manure management technology used in 2.1.1 Water pollution
China mainly includes composting, separation of manure,
biogas production and discharge of liquid manure to Water pollutants produced by livestock and poultry
recipients such as public sewers or ponds. For instance, farming are mainly organic matter, nitrogen, and
biogas technology is considered one of the solutions to phosphorus. These pollutants released into the water body
environmental problems caused by manure management. will cause the rapid growth of algae and lead to a
Of benefits can be mentioned that biogas is renewable and generation of a large number of aquatic organisms. The
dead organisms would lead to excessive bacterial content

*Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 257, 01008 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202125701008
AESEE 2021

of water bodies, polluting groundwater and reducing the 3.1 Compost Fermentation
concentration of dissolved oxygen in groundwater.
Therefore, the water quality seriously decreased and Aerobic Composting fermentation is a process of
pollution spread. Furthermore, the pollution components stabilizing the organic matter in the manure under aerobic
are too complex to decompose [1, 2]. conditions and relying on the action of aerobic
microorganism (mainly aerobic bacteria). By mixing the
manure and auxiliary materials required by the carbon-
2.1.2 Soil pollution nitrogen ratio, the manure will be fermented to produce
organic fertilizer [6].
The large-scale breeding mode will lead to animal
husbandry and poultry feces discharge far beyond soil
tolerance, and unprocessed straight feces will lead to land 3.1.1 Advantages
plate knots and soil biological imbalance [2].
1) Less odor produce
2) Easy to store, transport and use
2.1.3 Atmosphere pollution
Atmospheric pollutants mainly include dust with germs 3.1.2 Disadvantages
and toxic and odorous gases composed of sulphides,
ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. It is more likely to reduce 1) It needs to input a lot of oxygen.
life quality and spread disease [2]. 2) It needs to make sure the ratio of manure and
auxiliary materials
3) The temperature
2.2 The pollution characteristics of different
kinds of manure.
3.1.3 Process
This paper only makes a general estimate of animal
breeding pollution, so the source of excreta is divided into Before aerobic composting, the manure and the auxiliary
livestock (e.g. pigs, cows and goats) and poultry. Table 1 need to be calculated. The composting is processing
shows the average contents of pollutants from the feces during the temperature getting high. It can be defined as
and urine. four processes.
Table 1 The average content of fecal and urine pollutants 1) In the first stage when the temperature is lower than
in livestock and poultry (kg.t-1) [3-5] 45°C, microorganisms are active, and the soluble organic
Category COD BOD NH3-N TN TP matter in the compost would be used for vigorous
Livestock reproduction.
Pig manure 52.00 37.30 3.08 5.88 3.41 2) In the second stage when the temperature increases
Pig urine 9.00 5.00 1.43 3.33 0.52 to around 45 °C, microorganisms are suppressed or die,
Goat’s and thermophilic microorganism replaces mesophilic
manure
4.63 4.10 0.80 7.50 2.60 microorganisms.
Goat’s 3) In the third stage when the temperature is higher
urine
4.63 4.10 0.80 14.00 1.96
than 45°C, only parts of organic matter and newly formed
Cows humus which is more difficult to decompose remain in this
manure
31.00 24.53 1.71 4.37 0.40
maturity stage. At this time, the microbial activity
Cows urine 6.00 4.00 3.47 8.00 0.40 decreases, the heat generation decreases, and the
Poultry temperature decreases.
Chicken
45.00 47.87 4.78 9.84 5.37 4) In the fourth stage when the temperature decreases,
manure
Ducks, odor volatilization during the composting process would
goose dung
46.00 30.00 0.80 11.00 6.20 reduce.

COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand 3.2 Biogas Fermentation

BOD: Biochemical Oxygen Demand
NH3-N: ammonia-nitrogen Biogas fermentation is one of the most common methods
TN: Total Nitrogen used for manure treatment. It is suitable for mixing solids
TP; Total Phosphorus and liquids. During biogas fermentation, different kinds of
various will catabolism, and the bacteria, parasites, and
eggs will be killed. In the end, the combustible mixed gas
3 Two traditional methods for manure call biogas would be formed, such as methane (CH4) and
carbon dioxide (CO2) [7].
Both biogas and composting turn wasted organic material
into something useful. Biogas makes methane, which is
collected and burned to generate electricity. Composting 3.2.1 Advantages
makes organic fertilizer, which is used by gardeners, golf
course managers and farmers to grow plants. 1) Creating Biogas
2) Protecting forest and grass resources, reducing soil
erosion

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3) Saving money Overview, MFC is the subject of increasing attention

due to its advantages of effective removal of organic
matter, moderately expensive operating requirements, low
3.2.2 Disadvantage
sludge production, and the ability to produce power. This
1) High cost in the early time study focuses on the application of MFC technologies in
2) Hard to find a place to place a biogas digester manure treatment.

3.2.3 Process 4.1 Application of microbial fuel cell in treating

swine wastewater containing sulfonamide
The sewage from the breeding farm flows to the regulating antibiotics
tank through the drainage ditch. A grille is installed in
front of the regulating tank to remove the larger debris in Swine wastewater is one of the major antibiotics’ sources
the sewage. The manure cleared out manually is in the environment, owing to large amounts of antibiotics
transported to the regulating tank, mixed with the sewage, used as drugs and feed additives in swine industries.
and then flowed into the metering tank. The metering tank Sulfonamides (SMs) constitute one of the oldest and
is equipped with a pump to send the material liquid to the widely employed antibiotics for swine farms considering
anaerobic digester regularly and quantitatively. In order to their economic and relative efficacy in some common
keep the temperature in the anaerobic digester at about bacterial diseases. According to Cheng et al. (2018), the
35℃, there is a steam heating system in the metering tank, concentration of SMs in swine wastewater worldwide is
and the steam is introduced from the boiler room. The up to 324.4 μg/L. As the global population increases and
metering tank and anaerobic digester are equipped with the demand for pig products also increases, the
temperature sensors to adjust the amount of steam consumption of SMs will continue to rise in the future[8].
entering the regulating tank. Other heating methods can However, the removal of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from
also be used. The generated biogas is desulfurized, pig wastewater has received little attention in recent years.
dehydrated, and purified, and then enters the gas storage It also aimed to explore the effect of different
tank to be used as energy for production or life. The biogas concentrations of sulfonamide combinations on electricity
residue is discharged regularly according to the situation generation and organic matter removal in a double-
and can be dried and used as organic fertilizer. The biogas chamber MFC. The removal efficiency and degradation
slurry enters the post-processing system and is used as kinetics of sulfonamide combination in the MFC were also
liquid organic fertilizer for farmland. analyzed in their study [8].

4 Applications of microbial fuel cells in 4.1.1 A double-chamber MFC design

manure treatment A double-chamber MFC was employed in this study, and
the anode and cathode are cylindrical graphite felt and
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) refer to the reactor systems carbon fiber brush respectively. The two chambers are
that focus on producing electricity using biodegradable separated by a cation exchange membrane (CEM) and
materials, which aims to produce electricity by using the connected by copper wires through a 1000Ω resistor. The
electrons derived from biochemical reactions catalyzed by anode chamber was inoculated by anaerobic sludge
bacteria. collected from a pilot-scale anaerobic digester and fed
In MFCs, the electrons released by bacteria from the with synthetic swine wastewater. In this study, the reactor
substrate oxidation in the anode compartment (the was carried out in closed circuit mode and open circuit
negative terminal) are transferred to the cathode mode (OC) respectively. In order to investigate the
compartment (the positive terminal) through a conductive removal efficiency in MFC, OC can be regarded as a
material. In the cathode, the electrons are combined with traditional anaerobic reactor.
oxygen and the protons diffused through a proton
exchange membrane. MFCs require sustained electron
release in the anode and electron consumption in the 4.1.2 Performance of the double-chamber MFC
cathode.17 The attainable metabolic energy gain for
bacteria is directly related to the difference between the 1) Stable voltage output was achieved before SMS was
anode potential and the substrate redox potential. The added to MFC. The mean value was 551.1 mV with
optimal design for MFC is still under investigation, and continuous operating cycles. The voltage is stable during
different materials for the electrodes as well as more operation, indicating that the microorganisms in the anode
selective membranes for proton exchange are being chamber have a strong tolerance to SMS.
currently developed to enhance their performance. It 2) The overall chemical oxygen demand (COD)
seems that small cells connected in series offer higher removal rate of MFC remained stable (95.28% ~ 98.66%)
potentials than bigger reactor volumes. Nowadays, the after the addition of 100 and 300 μg/L SMS, which
main drawback for the full-scale application of MFC is the indicated that MFC could effectively remove COD
cost of materials and the low buffering capacity of (>95%), and the COD removal rate of OC decreased
domestic wastewater. However, the latter are still scarce, significantly to 58.72% and 18.82%. The treatment of
mostly empirical and under initial development stages. MFC is obviously better than that of a traditional
anaerobic reactor. When other antibiotics were added to

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MFC, the degradation efficiency remained at a high level. Twelve MFC reactors were connected in series with a
This indicates that MFC has a strong resistance to consecutive flow of the solution from Reactor 1 to Reactor
antibiotic toxicity and has great potential in the treatment 12. The overall volume of the system was 110 L. The
of wastewater containing antibiotics. waste stream was gravity‐fed into the reactors through
3) The research data showed that the simultaneous the utilization of an elevated feeder box, and a peristaltic
removal rates of SMX, SDZ and SMZ of MFC were pump was used to control the outflow rate. The raw
higher than those of conventional anaerobic reactors at all manure comes from a small-scale pig farm, and the pig
initial concentrations. The researchers believe that the excrements were mixed with tap water and blended to
likely explanation is that the stimulation of electron grind the solid waste into smaller particulates.
transfer can promote microbial growth and microbial The system was operated for over 200 days in
metabolism in the MFC anode. continuous mode with a hydraulic residence time of 4
In conclusion, the innovation point of this achievement hours. In the first month, the system is under intermittent
is to focus on the combination of sulfonamide antibiotics. operation. The concentration of CAD remained
Results show that MFC can effectively remove a large unchanged in the first two weeks. After the first month,
number of organic matter in pig wastewater and the the model was changed from intermittent operation into
addition of SMS may increase electricity generation under constant operation [9].
certain conditions. More importantly, the simultaneous
removal of SMX, SDZ and SMZ in the MFC was higher
than those in the conventional anaerobic reactor. 4.2.2 Advantages of the large‐scale MFC system

This system achieved the goal to reach a high COD

4.2 Application of a large‐scale MFC system in removal within a short hydraulic residence time (HRT) in
the sustainable treatment of manure waste a pilot-scale MFC system. It moves one step closer to
applying the MFC system for real pilot-scale wastewater
MFCs have always been considered a low-cost technology treatment.
of wastewater treatment. This is a successful MFC system
that has a larger scale than the others.
4.2.3 Performance of the MFC system

4.2.1 A large‐scale MFC system design and pilot Electrochemical performance: The maximum current
operation density was 102 ± 8 mA/m2 (1,013 ± 73 mA/m3 ), which
was achieved under the resistance of 47 Ω. Another MFC
This system is made up of 12 MFC reactors with a volume treatment can reach a current density of high‐228 mW/m2
of 110 L, using a pump to control the outflow of swine at 1,000 Ω [10].
wastewater. Each MFC reactor had a rectangular shape Chemical analysis of wastewater composition:
with internal dimensions and a volume of 7.9 L. The During the first 110 days, the COD removal reached a
anode was composed of twenty graphite fiber brushes. All peak at the beginning period of constant operation (Figure
carbon brushes were connected in series as one electrode. 1). The organic removal of the system is between 1–5
Two gas diffusion cathodes were placed on both sides of kg/m3 per day, which is equivalent to parent aerobic
the reactor and connected in series. Flow guides were built treatment and small-scale MFCs system.
into each reactor to direct the flow of the solution inside
the reactors.

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Figure 1 (a) COD concentration of the influent, effluent and the COD removal for the pilot, and (b) COD treatment rate over time.

On day 95, the maximum COD removal was about 5.0

kg COD/m3 and COD loading was 2,200 mg/L. The
4.3 Application of iron-air battery-MEC system
maximum COD removal rate was 65%, which was
in recovering the energy from swine wastewater
recorded on day 102. The minimum COD removal rate
was recorded at the enriching period. Zhuang et al. The iron-air battery-MEC system is considered to deal
reported that the COD removal reached 83% under a COD with the excessive wastewater in the high-density
loading of 1,000 mg/L and HRT of 60 hr [10]. Kim et al. livestock farms, among which swine wastewater is the
reported a COD removal of 59 ± 6% with 16.7 hr retention typical nutritious pollution source. The iron-air battery-
time. These studies observed obvious solid sedimentation, MEC system combines the microbial electrolysis cells
which was considered to be the reason for high COD (MECs) and iron-air battery into an integrated system,
removal [11]. In this method, solid sedimentation was not achieving the purpose of self-sufficiency and recovering
observed. But the COD removal still reached 65%。 the chemical energy in the swine wastewater. MEC, in this
This study shows a large-scale MFCs system that can technology, is a device that uses microorganisms to
treat swine wastewater constantly in a small-scale pig convert chemical energy in swine wastewater directly into
farm with an HRT of 4 hr. This system has worked for 2 electrical energy. It can recover energy from organics in
years and is still operating. The recorded maximum the form of hydrogen with each hydrogen ion obtaining
current density was 103 ± 7 mA/m2 (1,011 ± 73 mA/m3 ). electron. Electrogenic bacteria at the anode consume
And the normalized energy recovery (NER) of this system organic substances to produce electrons and hydrogen
at the resistance of 330 Ω was 0.11 kWh/kg COD. This ions, and hydrogen gas is generated at the cathode when a
study is a breakthrough in the MFCs system. Before this, small external voltage is applied.
most MFCs systems are still remaining laboratory scale. Anode : Organic  CO2  H   e 
Though some data seem great, those systems can’t remain
effective when treating farm-scale swine wastewater. In Cathode : H   2e   H 2
recent years, more and more studies focused on enlarging To solve energy consumption, This study combines
the scale of MFCs systems. It is proved that stacking metal-air batteries with a MEC system in treating
MFCs together is an efficient way of scaling up. We domestic wastewater and groundwater. Metal-air batteries
believe better results will be achieved. not only generate electricity but also produce coagulants
at the anode. Focus on the other subsystem, metal-air
batteries can serve as an alternative energy source, the
coagulants generated in metal-air batteries and integrated
with MECs can treat complex organic pollutants in
wastewaters. Figure 2 illustrates the electron transfer and
chemical reaction in the two subsystems.

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Figure 2 the electron transfer and chemical reaction in the two subsystems
compared with swine wastewater (SW), the coagulant
swine wastewater (CSW) containing less COD plays a
4.3.1 Advantages of the iron-air battery-MEC system
greater role in COD removal and almost tenfold H2
The iron-air battery-MEC system absorbs oxygen from production than SW.
the external environment, converting the water into OH-
Table 2 Comparison of the results of the present study and the
for the generation of Fe(OH)2 used for precipitating
other studies, wherein complex substrates were treated in MEC.
suspended solid, while hydrogen ions in the swine
wastewater gain electrons which produce H2. More Wastewater
Reactor Power Source
importantly, the production of H2 in the coagulant swine type
wastewater is far more efficient than the common one,
which also means the complex organics could be removed
effectively after coagulation. Single chamber DC 0.5V SW
With a series of experiment, the optimal removal rate
of distinct components can be determined by changing
different electrolyte solution concentrations. It can be Single chamber iron-air battery SW
obtained that the optimal concentration of the electrolyte
is 35g/L comparing NH4+, COD, suspended solids and
turbidity. Single chamber iron-air battery CSW

4.3.2 Disadvantage of the iron-air battery-MEC

system COD COD H2
Operation
concentration removal production
type(h)
The iron-air battery-MEC system still confronts several (mg/L) (%) (L/m3·d)
challenges concerned with battery maintenance and
efficiency. The first challenge is the electrode destruction 12,000-
184 69 1000
in the internal iron-air battery due to the passivation of the 17,000
iron electrode. In the pretreatment of swine wastewater,
the active surface of the iron electrode in the iron-air 290 90 12500±700 6
system could be reduced which contributes to the lower
capacity and thereupon influenced the utilization of swine 113 96 8100±450 57
wastewater with the production of H2 diminished.
Secondly, the microbes existing in the microbial
In conclusion, the iron-air battery-MEC system could
electrochemical systems (MES) could be vulnerable to
be a promising technology for swine wastewater treatment
impact by the chemical compounds in the swine
to cut the expenditure on the additional energy input and
wastewater, with the current limited by the hydrolysis and
environment protection.
fermentation processes of organics at the anode [12,13].
Additionally, the electron transfer on the anode in MES
could be remarkably influenced by the complex organic 4.4 Continuous electricity generation integrated
chemicals and ammonia with high concentration [14]. with fecal sewage treatment via ABR-MFC-MEC
According to Xiaoyu, “the iron-air battery performance system
was likely impaired by its complexity and the specifics of
the coagulation process in the battery” [15]. The anaerobic baffled reactor-microbial fuel cell-
Additionally, the high concentration of COD in the microbial electrolysis cell system (ABR-MFC-MEC) is
swine wastewater could impede the performance of the beneficial for the interception of suspended particles and
battery, with a wealth of chemical energy not being separation of hydrolysis-acidification and the methanogen
recovered inside the swine wastewater. From Table 2, processes with multi-stage baffles installed. Additionally,

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combining the microbial electrochemical facilities (MFC- the activation of methanogens and motivate the
MEC) with the ABR unit could contribute to a weak production of methane. In addition, the MEC unit assisted
current which can foster the nitrification-denitrification by MFC can significantly improve the denitrification
process in the system. efficiency, and the high short-circuit current of MFC is a
necessary condition for the development of the coupling
system. Using an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) process,
4.4.1 Principle of ABR-MFC-MEC system
the MFC can be powered in series to power the MEC
Kuntke stated that the ammonium in the urine can be reaction, while the MEC can convert various types of
recovered through the utilization of the microbial fuel cell nitrogen sources to nitrogen [19]. The processes in the
(MFC) technology while the electricity is generated MFC and MEC electrodes can be expressed by the
continuously [16]. The microbes in the MFC system could equations below:
oxidize the substrate, a surface on which the Anode _ MFC : CH 3COO   4 H 2O  2 HCO3  9 H   8e 
microorganisms grow and feed, and contribute electrons
at the anode (Figure 3). These electrons will be transferred
Cathode _ MFC : 2 NO3  10e   12 H   N 2  6 H 2O
to the cathode on which the water is formed via the
reaction of protons and oxygen [17]. Furthermore, in a
MEC system, the partial micro-aerobic condition can be Anode _ MEC : 2 NH 4  2 H 2O  2 NO2  6e   8H 
created by oxygen evolution in the region of the anode
[18]. Hydrogen production in the cathode could stimulate
Cathode _ MEC : 2 NO2  6e   8 H   N 2  4 H 2O

Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the single-chamber MEC

a general anaerobic reactor, CH4 accounts for 55-65% and

CO2 accounts for 30-45%. Compared with the two, the gas
4.4.2 Advantages of ABR-MFC-MEC system
composition of nitrogen is slightly lower than the content
Multiple advantages can be achieved by the introduction of CH4, which is mainly due to the micro-aeration that
of a microbial electrochemical device (MFC-MEC) into brings nitrogen into the system. Another reason is that the
ABR. Firstly, electrochemical reactions promote the nitrogenous compounds are reduced to nitrogen. Its
hydrolysis of solid organic matter. Secondly, coupling inhibition of methanogenic activity in the ABR unit can
microbial electrochemical reaction improves the activity have a negative effect on pH [20].
of methanogenic bacteria and inhibits the generation of The COD removal rate is sensitive to the change in
hydrogen sulfide odor. Thirdly, the combination of MFC hydraulic retention time. Generally ， the longer the
and MEC can also promote the process of nitrification and hydraulic retention time, the better the COD removal
denitrification and improve effluent quality. Lastly, the effect. In addition, the aeration rate also affects the ABR-
output power of MFC is sufficient to support the operation MFC-MEC combined power generation, the more
of MEC, so as to achieve the balance of internal energy bubbles on the electrode, the faster the reaction, and the
supply and demand. output voltage is also increased. The results show that the
COD concentration decreases with the increase of the
input of the external electron acceptor.
4.4.3 Performance of ABR-MFC-MEC system Overview, this emerging process for the treatment of
The significant indexes to evaluate the performance of the fecal wastewater introduces a coupled MFC-MEC unit
ABR-MFC-MEC system in treating fecal wastewater are into the ABR and processes and operates in an energy self-
the effluent COD and ammonia nitrogen. The mixture sufficient mode. In ABR, MFC is based on the redox
contains nitrate as cathode electrolyte, ammonium as configuration of the influent fecal wastewater, and the
anode electrolyte, in which ammonia nitrogen can be used remaining electrical energy contributes to the formation of
as electron donor and reactant. MEC and stimulates the microbial activity in the ABR unit,
The main contents of biogas are N2 and CH4, which which greatly improves the ability of microorganisms to
occupied nearly 45% of the total gas content. However, in

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