A bio-electrochemical membrane system for more sustainable wastewater treatment with MnO2/PANI modified stainless steel cathode and photosynthetic provision of dissolved oxygen by algae

A competitive sewage treatment technology should meet the standard of water quality requirement and accomplish recovery of potential energy. This study presents such a new system, with coupled membrane bioreactor-microbial fuel cell features, which can not only treat wastewater, but also recovers energy from wastewater by electricity generation, and form new resource by photosynthesis while providing the dissolved oxygen by algae. Specifically, in the system, the MnO 2 /polyaniline is used to modify the stainless steel mesh and to function well as system membrane and cathode, with satisfactory filtration and catalysis performance. The system enables continuous wastewater treatment with stable pollutant removal and electricity generation. Under the membrane flux of 119.4 Lm −2 h −1 , a maximum power density of 1.2 W m −3 can be achieved, the algae multiply 6.1 times, and satisfactory wastewater treatment effect is achieved.