A novel MBBR–MFC integrated system for high-strength pulp/paper wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation

International audience; In this study, a system combining an anaerobic moving-bed biofilm reactor and a microbial fuel cell (MFC) was designed for simultaneous bioelectricity generation and pulp/paper wastewater (PPW) treatment. After 22 days, when hydraulic retention time (HRT) was set at 72 h, ceramsite-added MFC (C-MFC) showed better bioelectricity performance with power density of 94.5 mW/m2 and internal resistance of 35.7 Ω, as compared to the control without ceramsite (W-MFC) (56.1 mW/m2, 54.3 Ω). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies of C-MFC and W-MFC were 65.6% and 51.3%, respectively. The C-MFC demonstrated its superior electrochemical performance compared to the W-MFC.