Sustainable electrical energy generation using tangerine waste in microbial fuel cells

Flores S.R.; Benites S.M.; Cruz-Noriega M.D.L.; Nazario-Naveda R. · AIP Conference Proceedings (2025) · DOI: 10.1063/5.0289619

Resumen

The agroindustry in Peru has increased exponentially in recent years, registering an export value during January-August 2023 of approximately 5,045 million dollars, which represents 28.56% (3,604 million dollars) more than what was registered in 2018. This has generated an increase in agricultural waste, the problem of which is increasing in markets, crop fields, and areas with few inhabitants because fruit or vegetable waste is thrown away around these places, contaminating the environment. Recently, agricultural waste has emerged as a promising fuel for sustainably generating alternative electrical energy through microbial fuel cells (MFCs). This research used 5?kg of mandarin waste as a substrate in single-chamber MFCs with carbon and zinc electrodes, where the physical-chemical parameters were monitored for 25 days. Generating maximum values of voltage (0.751 ± 0.049?V) and electric current (4.672 ± 0.154?mA) on the tenth day, operating at an optimal pH of 6.59 ± 0.24 showing a maximum electrical conductivity of 184.74 ± 19.17 mS/cm. The COD was reduced by 92.51%, and the maximum ORP shown was 199.25 ± 16.84?mV, with an internal resistance of 58.844 ± 6.517 ω. The PD observed on the tenth day was 4.512 ± 0.151?mW/cm2 at a CD of 0.359 A/cm2.

Instituciones: Universidad Autónoma del Perú