Energy and copper recovery from acid mine drainage by microbial fuel cells. Effect of the hydrochar doping on carbon felt anodes

This work investigates the performance of a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) treatment using bare and hydrochar-doped carbon felt (CF) anodes. Hydrochar was synthesized through hydrothermal carbonization of Spergularia rubra, followed by activation at 500 °C, resulting in impro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Delgado González, Yelitza, Tapia , Natalia, Vargas , Ignacio, López Fernández, Ester, Llanos López, Javier, Fernández Morales, Francisco Jesús
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/42059
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2024.129095
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/42059
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Acid mine drainage
Copper recovery
Electricity generation
Hydrochar
Microbial fuel cell
Descripción
Sumario:This work investigates the performance of a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) treatment using bare and hydrochar-doped carbon felt (CF) anodes. Hydrochar was synthesized through hydrothermal carbonization of Spergularia rubra, followed by activation at 500 °C, resulting in improved O/C and H/C ratios of 0.26 and 0.78, respectively. The study reveals that doping CF anodes with non-activated and activated hydrochar significantly enhances copper recovery and electricity generation. The highest copper recovery rate of 16.0 mg/L h-1 was achieved with activated hydrochar-doped CF (CFaH) anodes, followed by 10.6 mg/L h-1 with non-activated hydrochar-doped CF (CFnaH) anodes, and 7.1 mg/L h-1 with bare CF anodes. Hydrochar doping also improved the maximum current density to 0.21 mA cm-2 compared to 0.16 mA cm-2 with bare CF anodes. These results demonstrate the potential of hydrochar-doped CF anodes for efficient metal and energy recovery from AMD, offering a sustainable and energy-efficient alternative to conventional methods.