Microbial desalination cell technique - A review

Abstract

Saltwater desalination has become a highly demanded technique for the production of clean water. As a result of the growing population of the world, the demand for healthy water for consumption and other human activities has grown, over the years. Some Industries also require water for some of their operational processes. Two major types of desalination techniques exist and they include thermal desalination and membrane desalination. Several methods have been employed to control the salt content of water, and they include Reverse Osmosis (RO), Electro-Dialysis (ED), Membrane Distillation (MO), Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) process, Multi-Effect Distillation (MED), and vapor-compression distillation (VC). Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is a new way to treat wastewater and it serves the purpose of power generation. It involves the use of microorganisms in the anodic chamber of a fuel cell to break down matter, thus releasing electrons to the anode that goes to the cathode (in the cathodic department). This creates a potential difference across the electric circuit. Microbial desalination cell (MDC) technology utilizes this method to remove salt from saltwater and generate electricity. It comprises three compartments, namely: anodic chamber, desalination chamber, and cathodic chamber. This study focused on MDCs and their various configurations of it. It also identified various ways to advance the technology. MDCs are excellent in salt removal from saltwater and electricity generation and can be scaled up for large-scale industrial processes.