Implementation of Chitosan modified ultrafiltration hollow fiber as proton exchange membrane of ml-scale microbial fuel cells

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.

Abstract

The study investigated the modification of polyethersulfone (PES), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow fiber membranes using a chitosan solution as the proton exchange membrane for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Firstly, the performance of the modified PES membrane using 1, 2, and 3% of chitosan in 0.1 M acetic acid coating were inspected. Chitosan coating decreased the internal resistance and enhanced the electricity generation of the MFCs. The maximum power and current densities of 755.202 mW/m2, and 5525.42 mA/m2 were achieved for 3% chitosan-coated PES (PES-3%chi) compared to 629.533 mW/m2 and 3237.79 mA/m2 for pristine PES membrane. Thereafter, application of a 3% chitosan coating over the PAN and PVDF membranes exhibited excessive improvement in the bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment efficiency of the MFCs. The PAN-3%chi achieved the uppermost power and current densities of 765.147 mW/m2 and 8297.46 mA/m2, which were 1.7 and 2.6 higher than the PAN membrane (450.675 mW/m2 and 3216.56 mA/m2). The electricity generation of the PVDF membrane was enhanced by 5.3 times (337.134 mW/m2 and 2720.16 mA/m2) after the addition of 3% chitosan, likely due to the improvement in hydrophilicity and proton conductivity. The COD removal efficiencies of 42.41, 40.55, and 36.11% were obtained by PAN-3%chi, PES-3%chi, and PVDF-3%chi membranes, respectively, which were 3.53, 4.01, and 5.53 times higher than the values obtained by their pristine unmodified samples.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Hydrogen, Fuel Cell & Energy Storage
Volume 10, Issue 4
December 2023
Pages 299-310

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