Development of energy self-sufficient domestic wastewater treatment technology for Pacific atolls

• Project/Area Number: 15K14056
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Civil and environmental engineering
• Research Institution: Ibaraki University
• Principal Investigator: Fujita Masafumi 茨城大学, 工学部, 准教授 (60362084)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: 微生物燃料電池 / 下廃水 / 海水 / 酸素透過膜 / 有機物・窒素除去 / 廃水 / 窒素除去

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An air-cathode MFCs treating municipal wastewater containing seawater showed 80% or more of organic matter removal within 48h. Polarization curves showed that the internal resistance was reduced 20 times and maximum power density was improved to be 1,000 times under the presence of seawater. The municipal wastewater containing seawater inhibited organic matter uptake by suspended bacteria in the anode chamber. In contrast, hydrolysis and fermentation processes were not affected. To achieve simultaneous removals of organic matter and nitrogen without using any external energy, double-camber MFC in which a gas permeable membrane was introduced into cathode camber was operated with fed of synthetic coke-oven wastewater. Without any external energy, nitrification occurred, which was equal to one-third of nitrification rate in aeration. The double-chamber MFC generated the highest power density of 62mW/m2.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] マーシャル諸島短期大学(マーシャル)
• [Presentation] 生物膜内の有機物競合を考慮した一次元微生物燃料電池モデルの開発 (2017)
  • Author(s): 藤田昌史, 仙波正樹, 王峰宇
  • Organizer: 第54回下水道研究発表会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京
  • Year and Date: 2017-08-01
• [Presentation] 気体透過膜を導入した二槽式微生物燃料電池による有機物・窒素の同時除去手法の検討 (2017)
  • Author(s): 松原弘和, 王峰宇, 藤田昌史
  • Organizer: 第51回日本水環境学会年会
  • Place of Presentation: 熊本
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-15
• [Presentation] 海水を投入した都市下水処理型微生物燃料電池による発電 (2016)
  • Author(s): 王峰宇, 藤田昌史, 新田見匡
  • Organizer: 第49回日本水環境学会年会
  • Place of Presentation: 徳島大学
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-16
• [Presentation] 環礁国国土の地生態工学的維持 (2015)
  • Author(s): 茅根創, 山野博哉, 田島芳満, 横木裕宗, 藤田昌史, 栗原晴子
  • Organizer: 日本サンゴ礁学会第18回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 慶応大学
  • Year and Date: 2015-11-28