Conversion banana and orange peel waste into electricity using microbial fuel cell

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is one of green technologies widely developed for future renewable energy sources. The MFC is a bio-electrochemical system that uses the bacterial growth to transform organic substrates, via oxidation-reduction reactions, from chemical energy into electricity. Two different organic substrates include banana peel waste (BPW) and orange peel waste (OPW) are investigated for their potency as a feedstock for MFCs. In this study, single chamber MFC was used in all experiment, without chemical pre-treatment or the addition of extra mediators. Both electricity current and potential values were measured for 10 days. The characterisation study indicated that OPW contains higher organics materials than that of BPW, as indicated by the VS values of 87.06% total solids/TS (OPW) and 75.32% TS (BPW). Furthermore, the results also showed that both wastes produced electricity with a slightly different amount. In average, BPW has a voltage rating of 0.492 V and electric current rating of 0.101 mA. While, OPW has in average values of 0.563 V and 0.017 mA, respectively. The study confirmed that the organic content of substrates and the microbial activity influenced the electricity produced from the MFCs.