Abstract
In this study, a single chamber Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) was applied for the treatment of synthetic wastewater with the aim of evaluations of short-chain fatty acids degradation (propionate, butyrate) and electricity generation. As the result, process performance of short-chain fatty acids (containing propionate, butyrate and valerate) fed MFC was obtained COD removal 88% and coulombic efficiency 59.9% at external resistor of 100 Ω. This performance was almost equivalent to acetate fed MFC. Furthermore, the influence of external resistance value to the performance of the MFC was investigated. The changes in value of external resistance showed strong influence on organic removal in the short-chain fatty acids fed MFC than the acetate fed MFC. Organic removal rate was tended to increase at low external resistance in the short-chain fatty acids fed MFC. Biodegradation rate of propionate or n-butyrate was observed different trend at external resistance value. At high value external resistance, degradation of n-butyrate was promoted. On the other hand, propionate was obtained high biodegradation rate at low value external resistance.