Investigate lab scale microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in bioleaching for metals recovery

Abstract

Improper management of dumped tailings not only causes a potential waste of resources but also poses a direct threat to the lives and the environment. The Microbial Fuel Cell was used in the study to extract metals such as Iron, Copper from the electronic waste at lab scale. A mixed of bacteria in anaerobic sludge at Heineken factory is transferred into the anode of MFCs. The bio-hydrometallurgy reaction include oxidization reaction in the anode chamber and reduction reaction in the cathode chamber. The oxidization reaction produces H+, which is continually transferred through proton exchange membrane to react with O2 in cathode chamber to generate H2O2 and increases the reaction speed in the anode chamber. The approach of MFC, recovering metals as well as electrical energy, is ecofriendliness. Each of treatment was run in 16 days once time, include 2 times for iron electrode, 2 times for copper electrode and change the water in every time to check the stability of MFCs. MFCs models produced the highest electricity at 0.988V, efficiency removed COD at 96.8%, efficiency desalination at 39%. Additionally, the concentration of Copper, Iron, H2O2 reached a peak at 0.3 mg/L, 1.4 mg/L, 0.9mg/L, respectively. Therefore, it is possible to use MFCs models for bioleaching. Key words: Microbial Fuel Cell Bioleaching Metals recovery Anaerobic sludge