Role of dragon fruit waste (DFW) in microbial fuel cell to treat metal-polluted wastewater with electricity generation

Green technology, known as the microbial fuel cell (MFC), offers wastewater treatment and sustainable power simultaneously. Although there have been substantial advancements, there are still a number of important problems with this technique. Our study presented here has covered the organic substrate challenge of MFC. In prior studies, there was a strong recommendation that fruit waste be used as a source of carbon. In light of this, the waste from dragon fruit was used as a substrate in the present investigation. In 22 days, the study achieved a voltage of 165 mV and a power density of 1.98 mW/m². Additionally, the removal percentage of Cr³⁺ and Pb²⁺ is around 85.39–87.91%, respectively. The operation was carried out with constant 1000 ῼ resistance at all times, whereas the determination of the internal resistance was 694 ῼ. Furthermore, bacterial identification from anodic biofilm indicated that Bacillus-type species such as Bacillus nitratireducens, Pseudoneobacillus rhizosphaerae, and Bacillus paramobilis are the dominant species in the present MFC operation. Furthermore, a thorough description of the investigation’s proposed mechanism—which centers on the metal ion removal process—is given. Finally, mechanism, challenges, and future comments are also included.