Microbial fuel cells for azo dye treatment with electricity generation: A review

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) has great potential for treating wastewater containing azo dyes for decolourization, and simultaneous production of electricity with the help of microorganisms as biocatalysts. The concept of MFC has been already well established for the production of electricity; however, not much work has been published regarding dye decolourization with simultaneous electricity generation using MFCs. This paper reviews the performance limitations, future prospects, and improvements in technology in terms of commercial viability of azo dye decolourization with electricity generation in MFC. The major limitation identified is the high cost of cathode catalyst. Therefore, there is need of developing inexpensive cathode catalysts. Biocathode is one such option. Moreover, enhanced performance can be obtained by photo-assisted electrochemical process like rutile coated cathode. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.