Microbial fuel cells for remediation of environmental pollutants and value addition: Special focus on coupling diatom microbial fuel cells with photocatalytic and photoelectric fuel cells

Abstract

With the advent of global industrialisation and adaptation of smart life there is rise in anthropogenic pollution especially in water. Remediation of the pollutants (such as metals, and dyes) present in industrial effluents is possible via microbes and algae present in the environment. Microbes are used in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) for remediation of various organic and inorganic pollutants. However, for industrial scale application coupling the MFCs with photocatalytic and photoelectric fuel cell has a potential in improving the output of power. It can also be used for remediation of pollutants more expeditiously, conserving fossil fuels, cleaning environment, hence making the coupled hybrid fuel cell to run economically. Furthermore, such MFC inbuilt with algae in living or powder form give additional value addition products like biofuel, polysaccharides, biopolymers, and polyhydroxy alkanoates etc. This review provides bird's eye view on the removal of environmental pollutants by different biological sources like bacteria and algae. The article is focussed on diatoms as potential algae since they are rich source of crude oil and high value added products in a hybrid photocatalytic MFC. It also covers bottle necks, challenges and future in this field of research.

Keywords: Biofuel; Biopolymers; Diafuel; Diatoms; Energy; Microbial photocatalytic fuel cell.