IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v55y2016icp942-956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microbial electrolysis cells: An emerging technology for wastewater treatment and energy recovery. From laboratory to pilot plant and beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Escapa, A.
  • Mateos, R.
  • Martínez, E.J.
  • Blanes, J.

Abstract

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are cutting edge technology with great potential to become an alternative to conventional wastewater treatments (anaerobic digestion, activated sludge, etc.). One of the main features of MECs is that they allow organic matter present in wastewater to be converted into hydrogen thus helping to offset the energy consumed during treatment. There are already some large-scale experiments under way but MECs are far from being a mature technology; important challenges, mostly techno-economic in nature (cost of materials, hydrogen management, etc.) remain. This study provides an up-to-date review of the latest developments in MECs, paying special attention to those aspects that may be critical to the commercial viability of MECs for wastewater treatment and hydrogen production. It explores the suitability of different cell configurations and the scalability of MEC designs; it also reviews many of the laboratory, semi-pilot and pilot scale experiments. The review provides a critical analysis of the current state and the future prospects for MECs; it highlights factors crucial to the development of successful MEC designs, identifies potential application niches and discusses the integration of MECs with energy transportation systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Escapa, A. & Mateos, R. & Martínez, E.J. & Blanes, J., 2016. "Microbial electrolysis cells: An emerging technology for wastewater treatment and energy recovery. From laboratory to pilot plant and beyond," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 942-956.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:55:y:2016:i:c:p:942-956
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115012812
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.029?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Venkata Mohan, S. & Velvizhi, G. & Annie Modestra, J. & Srikanth, S., 2014. "Microbial fuel cell: Critical factors regulating bio-catalyzed electrochemical process and recent advancements," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 779-797.
    2. Leong, Jun Xing & Daud, Wan Ramli Wan & Ghasemi, Mostafa & Liew, Kien Ben & Ismail, Manal, 2013. "Ion exchange membranes as separators in microbial fuel cells for bioenergy conversion: A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 575-587.
    3. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin & Chen, Zhiqiang & Ding, Shuai, 2014. "Optimal load distribution model of microgrid in the smart grid environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 304-310.
    4. Kadier, Abudukeremu & Simayi, Yibadatihan & Kalil, Mohd Sahaid & Abdeshahian, Peyman & Hamid, Aidil Abdul, 2014. "A review of the substrates used in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) for producing sustainable and clean hydrogen gas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 466-472.
    5. Pant, Deepak & Singh, Anoop & Van Bogaert, Gilbert & Gallego, Yolanda Alvarez & Diels, Ludo & Vanbroekhoven, Karolien, 2011. "An introduction to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) for sustainable energy and product generation: Relevance and key aspects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1305-1313, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shuai Luo & Hongyue Sun & Qingyun Ping & Ran Jin & Zhen He, 2016. "A Review of Modeling Bioelectrochemical Systems: Engineering and Statistical Aspects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-27, February.
    2. Beegle, Jeffrey R. & Borole, Abhijeet P., 2018. "Energy production from waste: Evaluation of anaerobic digestion and bioelectrochemical systems based on energy efficiency and economic factors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-351.
    3. Oliot, Manon & Galier, Sylvain & Roux de Balmann, Hélène & Bergel, Alain, 2016. "Ion transport in microbial fuel cells: Key roles, theory and critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1682-1704.
    4. Khan, M.Z. & Nizami, A.S. & Rehan, M. & Ouda, O.K.M. & Sultana, S. & Ismail, I.M. & Shahzad, K., 2017. "Microbial electrolysis cells for hydrogen production and urban wastewater treatment: A case study of Saudi Arabia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 410-420.
    5. Elia Judith Martínez & Ana Sotres & Cristián B. Arenas & Daniel Blanco & Olegario Martínez & Xiomar Gómez, 2019. "Improving Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge by Hydrogen Addition: Analysis of Microbial Populations and Process Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Zhang, Ying & Liu, Mengmeng & Zhou, Minghua & Yang, Huijia & Liang, Liang & Gu, Tingyue, 2019. "Microbial fuel cell hybrid systems for wastewater treatment and bioenergy production: Synergistic effects, mechanisms and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 13-29.
    7. Lin, Richen & O'Shea, Richard & Deng, Chen & Wu, Benteng & Murphy, Jerry D., 2021. "A perspective on the efficacy of green gas production via integration of technologies in novel cascading circular bio-systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. Wu, Lan & Wei, Wei & Song, Lan & Woźniak-Karczewska, Marta & Chrzanowski, Łukasz & Ni, Bing-Jie, 2021. "Upgrading biogas produced in anaerobic digestion: Biological removal and bioconversion of CO2 in biogas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Richard Ochieng & Alemayehu Gebremedhin & Shiplu Sarker, 2022. "Integration of Waste to Bioenergy Conversion Systems: A Critical Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, April.
    10. Ndayisenga, Fabrice & Yu, Zhisheng & Zheng, Jianzhong & Wang, Bobo & Liang, Hongxia & Phulpoto, Irfan Ali & Habiyakare, Telesphore & Zhou, Dandan, 2021. "Microbial electrohydrogenesis cell and dark fermentation integrated system enhances biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic agricultural wastes: Substrate pretreatment towards optimization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    11. Satinover, Scott J. & Schell, Dan & Borole, Abhijeet P., 2020. "Achieving high hydrogen productivities of 20 L/L-day via microbial electrolysis of corn stover fermentation products," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    12. Jiang, Yong & Yang, Xufei & Liang, Peng & Liu, Panpan & Huang, Xia, 2018. "Microbial fuel cell sensors for water quality early warning systems: Fundamentals, signal resolution, optimization and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 292-305.
    13. Rousseau, Raphaël & Etcheverry, Luc & Roubaud, Emma & Basséguy, Régine & Délia, Marie-Line & Bergel, Alain, 2020. "Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC): Strengths, weaknesses and research needs from electrochemical engineering standpoint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    14. Kong, Fanying & Ren, Hong-Yu & Pavlostathis, Spyros G. & Nan, Jun & Ren, Nan-Qi & Wang, Aijie, 2020. "Overview of value-added products bioelectrosynthesized from waste materials in microbial electrosynthesis systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Jiseon You & John Greenman & Ioannis Ieropoulos, 2018. "Novel Analytical Microbial Fuel Cell Design for Rapid in Situ Optimisation of Dilution Rate and Substrate Supply Rate, by Flow, Volume Control and Anode Placement," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-12, September.
    16. Bhim Sen Thapa & Soumya Pandit & Sanchita Bipin Patwardhan & Sakshi Tripathi & Abhilasha Singh Mathuriya & Piyush Kumar Gupta & Ram Bharosay Lal & Tanmoy Roy Tusher, 2022. "Application of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) for Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment: An Overview and Future Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Fu, Qizi & Wang, Dongbo & Li, Xiaoming & Yang, Qi & Xu, Qiuxiang & Ni, Bing-Jie & Wang, Qilin & Liu, Xuran, 2021. "Towards hydrogen production from waste activated sludge: Principles, challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Jafar Ali & Aaqib Sohail & Lei Wang & Muhammad Rizwan Haider & Shahi Mulk & Gang Pan, 2018. "Electro-Microbiology as a Promising Approach Towards Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-30, July.
    19. Leicester, Daniel & Amezaga, Jaime & Heidrich, Elizabeth, 2020. "Is bioelectrochemical energy production from wastewater a reality? Identifying and standardising the progress made in scaling up microbial electrolysis cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. René Alejandro Flores-Estrella & Victor Alcaraz-Gonzalez & Andreas Haarstrick, 2022. "A Catalytic Effectiveness Factor for a Microbial Electrolysis Cell Biofilm Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    21. Walter, Xavier Alexis & You, Jiseon & Winfield, Jonathan & Bajarunas, Ugnius & Greenman, John & Ieropoulos, Ioannis A., 2020. "From the lab to the field: Self-stratifying microbial fuel cells stacks directly powering lights," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    22. Ki Nam Kim & Sung Hyun Lee & Hwapyong Kim & Young Ho Park & Su-Il In, 2018. "Improved Microbial Electrolysis Cell Hydrogen Production by Hybridization with a TiO 2 Nanotube Array Photoanode," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, November.
    23. Sekoai, Patrick T. & Ghimire, Anish & Ezeokoli, Obinna T. & Rao, Subramanya & Ngan, Wing Y. & Habimana, Olivier & Yao, Yuan & Yang, Pu & Yiu Fung, Aster Hei & Yoro, Kelvin O. & Daramola, Michael O. & , 2021. "Valorization of volatile fatty acids from the dark fermentation waste Streams-A promising pathway for a biorefinery concept," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Li & Du, Peng & Chen, Yizhong & Lu, Hongwei & Cheng, Xi & Chang, Bei & Wang, Zheng, 2017. "Advances in microbial fuel cells for wastewater treatment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 388-403.
    2. Leicester, Daniel & Amezaga, Jaime & Heidrich, Elizabeth, 2020. "Is bioelectrochemical energy production from wastewater a reality? Identifying and standardising the progress made in scaling up microbial electrolysis cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Sadhukhan, Jhuma & Lloyd, Jon R. & Scott, Keith & Premier, Giuliano C. & Yu, Eileen H. & Curtis, Tom & Head, Ian M., 2016. "A critical review of integration analysis of microbial electrosynthesis (MES) systems with waste biorefineries for the production of biofuel and chemical from reuse of CO2," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 116-132.
    4. Anoop Singh & Surajbhan Sevda & Ibrahim M. Abu Reesh & Karolien Vanbroekhoven & Dheeraj Rathore & Deepak Pant, 2015. "Biohydrogen Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass: Technology and Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-19, November.
    5. Toczyłowska-Mamińska, Renata, 2017. "Limits and perspectives of pulp and paper industry wastewater treatment – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 764-772.
    6. Kumar, Ravinder & Singh, Lakhveer & Zularisam, A.W., 2016. "Exoelectrogens: Recent advances in molecular drivers involved in extracellular electron transfer and strategies used to improve it for microbial fuel cell applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1322-1336.
    7. Yifan Yu & Jafar Ali & Yuesuo Yang & Peijing Kuang & Wenjing Zhang & Ying Lu & Yan Li, 2022. "Synchronous Cr(VI) Remediation and Energy Production Using Microbial Fuel Cell from a Subsurface Environment: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    8. Justin P. Jahnke & Deborah A. Sarkes & Jessica L. Liba & James J. Sumner & Dimitra N. Stratis-Cullum, 2021. "Improved Microbial Fuel Cell Performance by Engineering E. coli for Enhanced Affinity to Gold," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Fu, Shuke & Ge, Yingchen & Hao, Yu & Peng, Jiachao & Tian, Jiali, 2024. "Energy supply chain efficiency in the digital era: Evidence from China's listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    10. Zhang, Yanghuan & Li, Xufeng & Cai, Ying & Qi, Yan & Guo, Shihai & Zhao, Dongliang, 2019. "Improved hydrogen storage performances of Mg-Y-Ni-Cu alloys by melt spinning," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 263-271.
    11. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Changhui & Shen, Jianxin, 2017. "Discovering residential electricity consumption patterns through smart-meter data mining: A case study from China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 73-84.
    12. Rousseau, Raphaël & Etcheverry, Luc & Roubaud, Emma & Basséguy, Régine & Délia, Marie-Line & Bergel, Alain, 2020. "Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC): Strengths, weaknesses and research needs from electrochemical engineering standpoint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    13. Chang, Sheng-Tien & Liu, Shu-Hui & Li, Bing-Ye & Zheng, Zhi-Xian, 2023. "Improving the anodic packing and harmonizing the proton exchange membrane of bioelectrochemical systems for treating waste gases and generating electricity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 59-66.
    14. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2015. "A framework of service-oriented operation model of China׳s power system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 719-725.
    15. Renata Toczyłowska-Mamińska, 2020. "Wood-Based Panel Industry Wastewater Meets Microbial Fuel Cell Technology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-8, March.
    16. Ahmad Khan, Aftab & Naeem, Muhammad & Iqbal, Muhammad & Qaisar, Saad & Anpalagan, Alagan, 2016. "A compendium of optimization objectives, constraints, tools and algorithms for energy management in microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1664-1683.
    17. Anusha Ganta & Yasser Bashir & Sovik Das, 2022. "Dairy Wastewater as a Potential Feedstock for Valuable Production with Concurrent Wastewater Treatment through Microbial Electrochemical Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-34, November.
    18. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Emission reduction of China׳s steel industry: Progress and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 319-327.
    19. Beegle, Jeffrey R. & Borole, Abhijeet P., 2018. "Energy production from waste: Evaluation of anaerobic digestion and bioelectrochemical systems based on energy efficiency and economic factors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-351.
    20. Chen Wang & Kaile Zhou & Lanlan Li & Shanlin Yang, 2018. "Multi-agent simulation-based residential electricity pricing schemes design and user selection decision-making," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 90(3), pages 1309-1327, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:55:y:2016:i:c:p:942-956. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.