Aritro Banerjee disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap / Aritro Banerjee will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science
Aritro Banerjee disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap og vil offentlig forsvare avhandlingen / Aritro Banerjee will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science:
“A Design Study of Microbial Fuel Cell System for Wastewater Treatment and Energy Recovery”.
Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her / The doctoral thesis is available here.
Auditoriet er åpent for publikum. Disputasen vil også bli strømmet. Opptak av disputasen vil være tilgjengelig i en måned. / The auditorium is open to the public. The defense will be streamed. A recording of the defense will be available for one month.
Prøveforelesningen starter kl. 10:15 / The trial lecture starts at 10:15. Tittel:
“The role extremophiles microorganisms for environmental technology applications”.
Disputasen starter kl. 12:15 / The defense starts at 12:15.
Prøveforelesning strømmes her, disputas strømmes her / The trial lecture will be streamed here, and defense will be streamed here.
Sammendrag av avhandlingen / Summary of the thesis:
The aim of the thesis is to investigate the design of the Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) as a potential technology for treating wastewater efficiently. The research work focuses on the overall design of MFC, the essential components that a typical MFC consists of, the membrane and electrodes, are prioritized for evaluation. Since the MFC is guided mainly by a biochemical reaction that occurs at the anode and the product of such a reaction controls the entire functionality of the MFC, special attention was drawn to the anode and proton exchange membrane. The research explored designs that can be easily scaled up for practical applications. For this, a flat-plate design of a 9 mL working volume cell was tested using synthetic dairy wastewater. The operation of the MFC was optimized against input parameters such as pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and hydraulic retention time (HRT). In continuous operation for an optimized HRT of 6 hours in a single cell achieved up to 60% COD removal and a power output of 30-40 mW/m². To improve treatment and process efficiency further, the modification of critical components, such as the membrane and anode, was done to analyze the synergistic effect. After this, several single cells were integrated to form a stack or cell module, taking hydraulic retention time for maximizing COD removal and electrical output power output respectively into consideration. To prove the concept, four cells were connected in series defined as one train, which achieved 94% COD removal at the discharge from the fourth cell. As wastewater flows from one cell to the next cell the power output successively decreases due to the decreased organic content. Based on this 4-cell train, a 12-cell module consisting of three trains arranged in series was considered, which became the basis of a stack of 1 liter capacity integrating 10 such modules. This modular system with 24 HRT is capable of treating 1 liter of wastewater per day with up to 94 % COD removal and delivering around 5 mW of power. The energy output from the MFC systems can be used to power in-line sensors or electrochemical processes like electrocoagulation, to enhance the system efficiency without additional power input. Modular design ensures that the system can be made larger depending on the volume of wastewater to be treated. Thus, MFC technology can be a potential alternative to conventional biological wastewater treatment technologies and is a sustainable technology due to direct power generation.
Hovedveileder / Main supervisor:
Prof. Rajnish Kaur Calay, Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Biveileder / Co-supervisor:
As. Prof. Fasil Eregno, Department of Building, Energy and Material Technology, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Bedømmelseskomité / Evaluation committee:
Prøveforelesning og disputas ledes av prodekan for forskning, Prof. Bjarte Hoff / The trial lecture and defense are led by Vice Dean of research, Prof. Bjarte Hoff.
De som ønsker å opponere ex auditorio kan sende e-post til Bjarte Hoff / Opponents ex auditorio should contact Bjarte Hoff.