Current outlook towards feasibility and sustainability of ceramic membranes for practical scalable applications of microbial fuel cells

Membrane cost, long-term stability, and sustainability are major concerns when selecting membranes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for scaling-up applications. In recent years, efforts have been made to improve reactor architectural designs and to explore ceramic membrane materials, aiming to achieve techno-economical sustainability and efficiency. Furthermore, ceramics have recently emerged as low-cost separators, electrodes, and chassis materials for MFC applications. The introduction of cation exchange minerals into ceramic membranes promotes high proton transfer with improved membrane characteristics. High cationic transfer, proton exchange rate, stability against thermochemical conditions, structural strength to withstand high hydraulic load, and long-term stability with easy biofouling mitigation support the utilization of such membranes for scaling-up use. Successful field trials of Pee-power MFC, stacked urinal MFC, bioelectric toilet, and others showed the feasibility of ceramic membranes for practical applications. Therefore, this review emphasized the membrane characteristics, substantial effect of mineral additives, scaling-up applications, recent developments, and perspectives toward the practical utilization of MFC-based ceramic membranes

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Sonochemical degradation of <i>p</i>-chlorophenol assisted by H₂O₂and Ag-TiO₂ / TiO₂ catalyst</span>

73-77The degradation of p-chlorophenol in aqueous solution by low frequency ultrasound (30 kHz) has been studied. The degradation of p-chlorophenol in US/H2O2, US/ Ag- TiO2 US/TiO2, US/TiO2/H2O2 and US/ Ag-TiO2/H2O2 systems is also compared. The maximum removal of p-chlorophenol i.e 75% is observed in US/ Ag-TiO2/H2O2 system where as 37% removal is observed in US/TiO2/H2O2 system. Further the effect of initial substrate concentration, pH and temperature on the initial rate of degradation of the model pollutant have also been investigated. Studies reveal that the initial rate of degradation increases with increase in initial substrate concentration whereas the initial rate of degradation decreases with an increase in pH and reaction temperature