Treatment of Shipboard Oily Wastewater Using Modified-Anode Microbial Fuel Cells
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54691/tz8zyk26Keywords:
Microbial fuel cell; Shipboard oily wastewater; Carbon felt; Cerium oxide; β-Cyclodextrin.Abstract
With the rapid development of the shipping industry, pollution caused by shipboard oily wastewater has become an increasingly serious threat to marine ecosystems. Conventional physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods have limitations such as high energy consumption, unstable treatment performance, and potential secondary pollution when treating highly emulsified oily wastewater. To improve the electricity-generation and oily-wastewater-treatment performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), three anodes, namely CF, CeO₂/CF, and CeO₂-β-CD/CF, were prepared using carbon felt as the substrate and applied in dual-chamber MFCs. The effects of different anode materials on electricity generation and oil degradation were comparatively investigated. The water contact angles of CF, CeO₂/CF, and CeO₂-β-CD/CF were 101.632°, 86.845°, and 66.877°, respectively, indicating that the combined modification with CeO₂ and β-CD significantly improved the surface wettability of carbon felt. SEM observations showed that the modification increased the surface roughness of the carbon fibers without noticeably damaging their original three-dimensional fibrous structure. The maximum output voltages of the MFCs equipped with the three anodes were 0.5313 V, 0.6300 V, and 0.6785 V, respectively, and the maximum voltage of the CeO₂-β-CD/CF-based MFC was 27.71% higher than that of the CF-based MFC. After 7 days of continuous operation, the corresponding oil degradation rates were 58.23%, 71.48%, and 77.16%, respectively. These results demonstrate that the CeO₂-β-CD composite modification provides favorable conditions for microbial attachment, biofilm formation, and sufficient contact between the electrode and anolyte by improving the surface wettability and morphology of carbon felt, thereby enhancing both electricity generation and oil-pollutant degradation. This study provides a promising technical approach for the efficient treatment of shipboard oily wastewater.
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