Influence of Electrode Spacing on Methane Production in Microbial Electrolysis Cell Fed with Sewage Sludge

Im, Seongwon; Ahn, Yongtae; Chung, Jae-Woo; Im, Seongwon; Ahn, Yongtae; Chung, Jae-Woo

doi:2015.37.12.682

The Korean text of this paper can be translated into multiple languages on the website of http://jksee.or.kr through Google Translator.

J Korean Soc Environ Eng > Volume 37(12); 2015 > Article

Original Paper

J Korean Soc Environ Eng 2015;37(12): 682-688. doi: https://doi.org/10.4491/KSEE.2015.37.12.682

하수슬러지를 기질로 하는 미생물전기분해전지에서 전극간 거리가 메탄 생산에 미치는 영향

임성원¹, 안용태², 정재우¹

¹경남과학기술대학교 환경공학과, 녹색기술연구소
²경남과학기술대학교 에너지공학과

Influence of Electrode Spacing on Methane Production in Microbial Electrolysis Cell Fed with Sewage Sludge

Seongwon Im¹, Yongtae Ahn², Jae-Woo Chung¹

¹Department of Environmental Engineering, Green Technology Institute, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology
²Department of Energy Engineering, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology

Corresponding author

Jae-Woo Chung ,Tel: 055-751-3348, Fax: 055-751-3484, Email: jwchung@gntech.ac.kr

Received: November 12, 2015; Revised: December 10, 2015; Accepted: December 23, 2015. Published online: December 31, 2015.

ABSTRACT

Effect of electrode spacing on the performance of microbial electrolysis cells(MECs) for treating sewage sludge was investigated through lab scale experiment. The reactors were equipped with two pairs of electrodes that have a different electrode spacing (16, 32 mm). Shorter electrode distance improved the overall performance of MEC system. With the 16 mm of electrode distance, the current density was 3.04~3.74 A/m³ and methane production was 0.616~0.804 Nm³/m³, which were higher than those obtained with 32 mm of electrode spacing (1.50~1.82 A/m³, 0.529~0.664 Nm³/m³). The COD removal was in the range of 34~40%, and the VSS reduction ranged 32~38%. As the current production increased, VSS reduction and methane production were increased possibly due to the improved bioelectrochemical performance of the system. Methane production was more affected by current density than VSS reduction. These results imply that the reducing the electrode spacing can enhance the methane production and recovery from sewage sludge with the decreased internal resistance, however, it was not able to improve VSS reduction of sewage sludge.

Key Words: Microbial Electrolysis Cell, Electrode Spacing, Sewage Sludge, Methane Production, Organic Matter Reduction