Microbial fuel cell-electrochemical advanced oxidation with 3D dimetallic single atom CeCo/gC3N4/activated carbon cathode efficiently treat coking wastewater
摘要
Application of (microbial fuel cell) MFC-driven-EAOP (electrochemical advanced oxidation process) in treating recalcitrant wastewater was limited by expensive, low activity and unstable cathodes, difficult to treat pollutants, low treatment capacity and poor effluent quality. A binder-free, high-activity cathode with in-situ formed dimetallic single atom CeCo/gC3N4(CeCo/CN in abbreviation) in low cost activated carbon (AC) was prepared. In this cathode, the presence of single atom Ce and Co in synergy with gC3N4 and AC contributed to the high activity in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical H2O2 synthesis (1000–2000 mg g−1 h−1, CeCo/CN), which was 40 times that of AC, where the carbon nitride and Ce/Co played key roles. The MFC-EAOP using this cathode was capable of treating coking wastewater at higher rate of 5.846 kg m−3 d−1 COD (chemical oxygen demand). Stable MFC-EAOP removed 97.2% of COD and 91.8% of TN*(Total Nitrogen) and the effluent met discharge standard. It required no extra electrical current in EAOP. This low-cost, in-situ-grown high activity CeCo/CN/AC cathode could be easily mass-produced to commercialize MFC-EAOP for practical use.
Graphical abstract