Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900, Kampar, Perak, Malaysia.
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Sep;30(42):96272-96289. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-29165-6. Epub 2023 Aug 11.
Attributable to the prosperous production growth of palm oil in Malaysia, the generated palm oil mill effluent (POME) poses a high threat owing to its highly polluted characteristic. Urged by the escalating concern of environmental conservation, POME pollution abatement and potential energy recovery from the effluent are flagged up as a research topic of interest. In this study, a cutting-edge photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) system with employment of ZnO/Zn nanorod array (NRA) photoanode, CuO/Cu cathode, and persulfate (PS) oxidant was successfully designed to improve the treatment of POME and simultaneous energy production. The photoelectrodes were fabricated and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller analysis (BET). Owing to the properties of strong oxidant of PS, the proposed PFC/PS system has exhibited exceptional performance, attaining chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 96.2%, open circuit voltage (V) of 740.0 mV, short circuit current density (J) of 146.7 μA cm, and power density (P) of 35.6 μW cm. The pre-eminent PFC/PS system performance was yielded under optimal conditions of 2.5 mM of persulfate oxidant, POME dilution factor of 1:20, and natural solution pH of 8.51. Subsequently, the postulated photoelectrocatalytic POME treatment mechanism was elucidated by the radical scavenging study and Mott-Schottky (M-S) analysis. The following recycling test affirmed the stability and durability of the photoanode after four continuous repetition usages while the assessed electrical energy efficiency revealed the economic viability of PFC system serving as a post-treatment for abatement of POME. These findings contributed toward enhancing the sustainability criteria and economic viability of palm oil by adopting sustainable and efficient POME post-treatment technology.
归因于马来西亚棕榈油产业的繁荣发展，所产生的棕榈油厂废水（POME）由于其高度污染的特性而构成了高度威胁。出于对环境保护的日益关注，人们已经提出了减轻 POME 污染和从废水中潜在回收能源的问题，这成为了一个备受关注的研究课题。在这项研究中，成功设计了一种使用 ZnO/Zn 纳米棒阵列（NRA）光阳极、CuO/Cu 阴极和过硫酸盐（PS）氧化剂的先进光催化燃料电池（PFC）系统，以改善 POME 的处理和同时进行能量生产。通过场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM）、X 射线衍射（XRD）、能谱（EDX）和 Brunauer-Emmett-Teller 分析（BET）对光电电极进行了制造和特性分析。由于 PS 是一种强氧化剂，所提出的 PFC/PS 系统表现出了卓越的性能，达到了 96.2%的化学需氧量（COD）去除效率、740.0 mV 的开路电压（V）、146.7 μA cm 的短路电流密度（J）和 35.6 μW cm 的功率密度（P）。在最佳条件下，即 2.5 mM 的过硫酸盐氧化剂、POME 稀释因子为 1:20 和自然溶液 pH 值为 8.51 时，该 PFC/PS 系统表现出了卓越的性能。随后，通过自由基清除研究和 Mott-Schottky（M-S）分析阐明了所提出的光电催化 POME 处理机制。随后的循环测试证实了在经过四次连续重复使用后，光阳极的稳定性和耐用性，而评估的电能效率则揭示了 PFC 系统作为 POME 减排的后处理技术的经济可行性。这些发现通过采用可持续和高效的 POME 后处理技术，提高了棕榈油的可持续性标准和经济可行性。
