International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Bio-electrochemical anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the most recent advancement in anaerobic treatment processes. Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are used for bio-electrochemical treatment, where the supplied external power is used to enhance the performance of AD. Multiple studies have investigated the viability of MECs under various operating parameters and for different organic wastes. The present paper aims at reviewing the latest literature regarding bio-electrochemical enhanced AD through MECs. It was concluded that MEC reactors significantly enhance AD performance under different supplied voltages, temperatures, electrodes configuration, as well as other operating parameters. Based on the compiled literature, further comprehensive life cycle assessment of MECs is recommended prior to any full-scale implementation.

Index Terms—Anaerobic digestion, bio-electrochemical enhancement, microbial electrolysis cells, state-of-the-art review.

A. Shabib, M. Abdallah, and A. Shanableh are with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (e-mail: ahmadgshabib@gmail.com, mabdallah@sharjah.ac.ae, shanableh@sharjah.ac.ae).
M. Sartaj is with the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (e-mail: msartaj@uOttawa.ca).

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Cite: A. Shabib, M. Abdallah, A. Shanableh, and M. Sartaj, "Design Configurations and Operating Parameters of Bio-electrochemically Enhanced Anaerobic Digestion," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 63-68, 2021.

Copyright © 2021 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).