Zinc removal and recovery from industrial wastewater with a microbial fuel cell: Experimental investigation and theoretical prediction

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that simultaneously remove organic contaminants and recovering metals provide a potential route for industry to adopt clean technologies. In this work, two goals were set: to study the feasibility of zinc removal from industrial effluents using MFCs and to understand the removal process by using reaction rate models. The removal of Zn²⁺ in MFC was over 96% for synthetic and industrial samples with initial Zn²⁺ concentrations less than 2.0 mM after 22 h of operation. However, only 83 and 42% of the zinc recovered from synthetic and industrial samples, respectively, was attached on the cathode surface of the MFCs. The results marked the domination of electroprecipitation rather than the electrodeposition process in the industrial samples. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed that the recovered compound contained not only Zn but also O, evidence that Zn(OH)₂ could be formed. The removal of Zn²⁺ in the MFC followed a mechanism where oxygen was reduced to hydroxide before reacting with Zn²⁺. Nernst equations and rate law expressions were derived to understand the mechanism and used to estimate the Zn²⁺ concentration and removal efficiency. The zero-, first- and second-order rate equations successfully fitted the data, predicted the final Zn²⁺ removal efficiency, and suggested that possible mechanistic reactions occurred in the electrolysis cell (direct reduction), MFC (O₂ reduction), and control (chemisorption) modes. The half-life, t_1/2, of the Zn²⁺ removal reaction using synthetic and industrial samples was estimated to be 7.0 and 2.7 h, respectively. The t_1/2 values of the controls (without the power input from the MFC bioanode) were much slower and were recorded as 21.5 and 7.3 h for synthetic and industrial samples, respectively. The study suggests that MFCs can act as a sustainable and environmentally friendly technology for heavy metal removal without electrical energy input or the addition of chemicals.

Keywords: Electroprecipitation; Heavy metal recovery; Industrial wastewater treatment; Microbial fuel cell; Theoretical and mathematical modelling; Zinc removal.