Effects of Pharmaceuticals on the Performance of Earthen Pot Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

A study was conducted to introduce an efficient alternative such as bioelectrochemical degradation of pharmaceuticals. Six earthen pot MFCs were operated in batch mode, in which the pharmaceuticals were added in two different concentrations, and their effect on the performance on a microbial fuel cell (MFC) was compared with a control MFC. While the MFC dosed with paracetamol (4.2 W/m3) generated more electricity than the control MFC (3.7 W/m3), the rest of the MFCs dosed with the pharmaceuticals caffeine (3.4 W/m3), salicylic acid (3.1 W/m3), trimethoprim (2.7 W/m3), and sulfamethoxazole (2.8 W/m3) generated less electricity than the control, indicating the negative effects of the pharmaceuticals on the electricity generation by MFCs. A marginal difference in the COD removal efficiency was noted. Sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim rapidly degraded (more than 90% in 24 h). Paracetamol and caffeine took nearly 48 h to get completely degraded and salicylic acid got 100% degraded in 90 h.