Conventional wastewater treatment consumes a large amount of money worldwide for removal of pollutants prior to its discharge into water body or facilitating reuse. Decreasing energy expenditure during wastewater treatment and rather recovering some value-added products while treating wastewater is an important goal for researchers. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are representative bioelectrochemical systems, which offer energy-efficient wastewater treatment. MFCs convert chemical energy of organic matter into electrical energy by using biocatalytic activities. Although MFCs are not truly commercialized, they have potential to make energy-gaining wastewater treatment technologies and represent their capabilities successfully. Over the last decade, MFCs have developed remarkably in almost every dimension including wastewater treatment capabilities, power output, and cost optimization; however, its architectural design is an important consideration for scaling up. Here, we review various architectural advancements and technology up-gradation MFCs have experienced during its journey, to take this technology step forward for commercialization.
Keywords: Architectural design; Microbial fuel cell; Power density; Scaling up; Stacked arrangement.