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Keywords Constructed wetlands · Microbial solar cells · Plant microbial fuel cell
· Photosynthetic organisms · Wastewater treatment
1 Introduction
Water and energy crisis and wastewater treatment are major environmental concerns
of the present era. Utilization of conventional fossil fuels for energy generation
resulted in carbon emission and caused severe environmental damage issues. Over
limited availability of fossil fuels, researchers are looking forward to recover the
energy from renewable energy sources. Biomass can be an effective non- conventional
renewable energy source with minimal harm to the environment. Biomass as feedstock can be effectively utilized for bioethanol and biodiesel generation and as biofuel source and contribute for circular economy. At present, biomass energy
contributes about 12–15% of renewable energy in India [1].
Biomass fuels provided about 5% of the total primary energy use in the United
States in 2017. Of that 5%, about 46% was from biofuels (mainly ethanol), 44% was
from wood and wood-derived biomass, and 10% was from the biomass in municipal
waste [2]. In the present era, researchers are looking forward for harvesting the
energy from such renewable biomass source. Bioenergy can be harvested from the
organic biomass in the form of bioethanol, biodiesel, bioheat, and biopower as well
as biogas. Individual process of bioenergy synthesis has advantages and limitations
based on various biomass utilized. Bioelectrochemical system is the recent wasteto- energy technique utilized to generate power, employing bacteria for oxidation of
organic matter present in wastewater. This chapter provides space of consideration
for the utilization of plants for bioelectricity generation through advanced plant
microbial fuel cell during wastewater treatment.
2 Microbial Fuel Cell
Anodic oxidation of organic matter from wastewater and cathodic reaction using
electron acceptors can be bioelectrochemically grouped together in microbial fuel
cell (MFC) technology with the aim of harvesting electricity during wastewater
treatment. MFC consists of anodic chamber for oxidation and cathodic chamber for
reduction, separated by cation exchange membrane (CEM). Electrons generated
after anodic oxidation are utilized for electric current production, and protons
migrated through CEM are utilized for cathodic reduction to form water. Being an
electrochemical system, MFC provides flexible platform for controlling electrochemical reactions, and being a biological system, it provides platform for microbes
to select the substrate. Hence, performance of MFC mainly depends on wastewater
characteristics, operating conditions, design aspects, inoculum properties, and
material properties.
D. A. Jadhav et al.
Keywords Constructed wetlands · Microbial solar cells · Plant microbial fuel cell
· Photosynthetic organisms · Wastewater treatment
1 Introduction
Water and energy crisis and wastewater treatment are major environmental concerns
of the present era. Utilization of conventional fossil fuels for energy generation
resulted in carbon emission and caused severe environmental damage issues. Over
limited availability of fossil fuels, researchers are looking forward to recover the
energy from renewable energy sources. Biomass can be an effective non- conventional
renewable energy source with minimal harm to the environment. Biomass as feedstock can be effectively utilized for bioethanol and biodiesel generation and as biofuel source and contribute for circular economy. At present, biomass energy
contributes about 12–15% of renewable energy in India [1].
Biomass fuels provided about 5% of the total primary energy use in the United
States in 2017. Of that 5%, about 46% was from biofuels (mainly ethanol), 44% was
from wood and wood-derived biomass, and 10% was from the biomass in municipal
waste [2]. In the present era, researchers are looking forward for harvesting the
energy from such renewable biomass source. Bioenergy can be harvested from the
organic biomass in the form of bioethanol, biodiesel, bioheat, and biopower as well
as biogas. Individual process of bioenergy synthesis has advantages and limitations
based on various biomass utilized. Bioelectrochemical system is the recent wasteto- energy technique utilized to generate power, employing bacteria for oxidation of
organic matter present in wastewater. This chapter provides space of consideration
for the utilization of plants for bioelectricity generation through advanced plant
microbial fuel cell during wastewater treatment.
2 Microbial Fuel Cell
Anodic oxidation of organic matter from wastewater and cathodic reaction using
electron acceptors can be bioelectrochemically grouped together in microbial fuel
cell (MFC) technology with the aim of harvesting electricity during wastewater
treatment. MFC consists of anodic chamber for oxidation and cathodic chamber for
reduction, separated by cation exchange membrane (CEM). Electrons generated
after anodic oxidation are utilized for electric current production, and protons
migrated through CEM are utilized for cathodic reduction to form water. Being an
electrochemical system, MFC provides flexible platform for controlling electrochemical reactions, and being a biological system, it provides platform for microbes
to select the substrate. Hence, performance of MFC mainly depends on wastewater
characteristics, operating conditions, design aspects, inoculum properties, and
material properties.
D. A. Jadhav et al.