Selim Latif Sanin
Hacettepe University, Turkey
Title: Comparison of four membranes in a bioelectrochemical system designed for nitrate removal from groundwater
Biography
Biography: Selim Latif Sanin
Abstract
Power production performance of a MFC system with commercially available ion exchange membranes (CMI-7000S, CMF and HSF) are investigated in groundwater system and performances are compared. Carbon sheet is also used as a no-membrane barrier. HSF membrane provided the best columbic effi ciency. Although current effi ciency was lower in of carbon cloth reactor good nitrate removal performance is achieved in the system. Highest maximum power density and the lowest internal resistance was observed in HSF-MFC (234 mW/m2, internal resistance 631 Ω) membrane which was followed by Non-membrane (Carbon Sheet) MFC (192 mW/m2, internal resistance 766 Ω) reactor. CMF-MFC (116 mW/m2, internal resistance 1177 Ω) and CMI-MFC (74 mW/m2, internal resistance 1558 Ω) were the two low performing membranes. When these four separators were arranged by their capability to prevent pH increase in the cathode section, the results from high to low were CMF, HSF, non-membrane MFC and CMI. Th ese results showed the possibility of using various membranes in MFC systems and indicate HSF membrane as the best option, when cost is considered. It was observed that concentration of nitrate in the cathode solution has a signifi cant impact on the removal rate of nitrate, power and current production and columbic effi ciency. At high nitrate concentrations the system removed around 65% of the initial concentration. When 12 mg/L nitrate is used as the initial nitrate concentration in the cathode chamber, signifi cant reduction in nitrate removal is observed and a decrease (59%) in current production and decrease of 50% in coulomb effi ciency is observed.