Photosynthetic Microalgal Microbial Fuel Cell (PMMFC): A Novel Strategy for Wastewater Treatment and Bioenergy Generation

Given the rising population and rapid industrialization, the demand for renewable energy has become an imperative to meet our energy needs. Renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro, wind, and biomass store a significant amount of energy. However, inefficient utilization of these sources prevents them from meeting the rising energy demand. Microbial fuel cell (MFC), a sustainable treatment system, could provide the energy requirement of producing electricity by utilizing organic complexes from wastewater. In addition to the conventional MFC operation, the use of algae to produce electricity in MFCs appears to be a wise approach for extracting energy from sunlight in an economical and sustainable manner. The use of microalgae in the MFC system is called photosynthetic microalgal microbial fuel cell (PMMFC) or photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC). This chapter explains the basic principle of PMFCs, its type of operation, advantages, and disadvantages. This chapter also focuses on the mechanism of supplying oxygen to the cathodic system, which can solve the reduction limitation. More studies on PMFCs could provide a sustainable solution for bioelectricity production, biomass generation, and wastewater treatment.