Utilization of a Silicone Rubber Membrane for Passive Oxygen Supply in a Microbial Fuel Cell Treating Carbon and Nitrogen from Synthetic Coke-Oven Wastewater.

This study firstly introduced a silicone rubber membrane (SRM) into microbial fuel cell (MFC) for passive oxygen supply to simultaneously remove phenol and nitrogen from synthetic coke-oven wastewater diluted with seawater. Passive oxygen transport with biofilm on the membrane was improved by ~ 18-fold in comparison with the one without a biofilm. In addition, although the oxygen supply was passive, nitrification accounted for 34% of those aeration conditions. It was also found that silicone rubber membrane can control NO-N and/or NO-N production. A dual-chamber MFC treating the synthetic coke-oven wastewater achieved a maximum power density of 54 mW m with a coulombic efficiency of 2.7%. We conclude that silicone rubber membrane is effective for sustainable coke-oven wastewater treatment in MFCs.