Md Tabish Noori

Imperial College London | Imperial · Department of Chemical Engineering

Methanogens compete with anodophiles for substrate and thus reduce the power generation and coulombic efficiency (CE) of the microbial fuel cell (MFC). Performance of a baked clayware membrane MFC inoculated with mixed anaerobic sludge pretreated with lauric acid was investigated in order to enhance power recovery by controlling methanogenesis. In...

The physical and chemical treatment processes of leachate are not only costly but can also possibly produce harmful by products. Constructed wetlands (CW) has been considered a promising alternative technology for leachate treatment due to less demand for energy, economic, ecological benefits, and simplicity of operations. Various trends and approa...

Microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) can produce hydrogen (H 2 ) at a low energy expense, but H 2 production rate is often limited by poor microbe-electrode interaction. This study aimed to enhance the interaction of microbes with a cathode electrode modified with an iron-sulfide (FeS) catalyst in MECs to achieve an efficient hydrogen evolution react...

Microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) can enhance methane production in anaerobic digestion, but their performance is hindered by inadequate electron transfer between the cathode and microbes. Magnetite–zeolite (MZ)‐based catalysts accelerate electron exchange; however, the optimal loading of MZ is crucial for maximizing MES performance. In this...

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) presents a versatile approach for efficiently converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable products. However, poor electron uptake by the microorganisms from the cathode severely limits the performance of MES. In this study, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-metal–organic framework (MOF) i.e. HKUST-1 composite wa...

Ammonia removal from wastewater was successfully achieved by simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) in a double-chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The MEC operations at different applied voltages (0.7 to 1.5 V) and initial ammonia concentrations (30 to 150 mg/L) were conducted in order to evaluate their effects on MEC performa...

Consistent accumulation of petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) in soil and sediments is a big concern and, thus, warrants a static technology to continuously remediate PH-contaminated soil. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) can offer the desired solution using the inimitable metabolic response of electroactive microbes without involving a physiochemical pro...

Bioelectrohydrogenesis using a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is a promising technology for simultaneous hydrogen production and wastewater treatment which uses electrogenic microbes. Microbial activity at the anode and hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode can be controlled by electrode–microbe interaction and electron transfer. The select...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as versatile materials for widespread energy and environmental applications due to their intrinsic physical and chemical properties. To this extent, this research is focused on the synthesis of novel amine-functionalized single (Zr) and bimetallic (Zr, Ni) MOF viz. NH2-UiO-66(Zr) and NH2-UiO-66(Zr/Ni), f...

To assess biohydrogen for future green energy, this review revisited dark fermentation and microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). Hydrogen evolution rate in mesophilic dark fermentation is as high as 192 m³ H2/m³-d, however hydrogen yield is limited. MECs are ideal for improving hydrogen yield from carboxylate accumulated from dark fermentation, wher...

Submersible microbial fuel cell-anaerobic digestion (SMFC-AD) systems offer biogas up-gradation along with electricity generation but require improved anodic kinetics for better performance. In this study, iron-manganese oxide (FeMnO3) nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical precipitation method and used as an anodic catalyst in SMFC-AD to impro...

Biohythane is a balanced mixture of 10%–30% v/v of hydrogen and 70%–90% v/v of methane, which could be the backbone of an all-purpose future energy supply. Recently, bioelectrochemical systems (BES) became a new sensation among environmental biotechnology processes, with the potential to sustainably generate biohythane. Therefore, to unleash its fu...

A smart aquaculture management system (SAMS) based on the Internet of Things (IoT) has recently gained much attention for fulfilling the growing demand for aquaculture products. The SAMS uses cutting-edge sensing technologies with a modern networking system to continuously monitor water quality, animal health, and feeding behavior to improve the pr...

A newly designed microbial electrochemical system (MES) with the addition of a baffle between the electrodes was integrated with the anaerobic digestion (AD) process for biogas upgradation. Novel MES configuration attained an increased methane production rate of 292.6 mL/L∙d and methane yield of 0.36 ± 0.006 LCH4/gCOD, which were higher than the va...

Implicit interaction of electroactive microbes with solid electrodes is an interesting phenomenon in nature, which supported development of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), especially the microbial fuel cell (MFCs) for valorization of low-value waste streams into bioelectricity. Intriguingly, the metabolism of interacted microbes with electrode i...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) can generate electricity in one step from wastewater, taking advantage of the bioelectrochemical properties of microorganisms. The cost of fabrication of MFCs is an important consideration, which is accountable to make this cutting-edge technology reliable for field-scale applications. The polymeric proton exchange membr...

Single chamber microbial electrosynthesis (MES) cells were adapted in this study to evaluate suitable external voltage to enhance the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) generation from CO2. MES operations with heat-treated sludge was conducted in batch mode under three different applied voltages viz. 0.4 (MES-1), 0.8 (MES-2) and 1.0 V (MES-3). All MESs co...

Goal of sustainable carbon neutral economy can be achieved by designing an efficient CO2 reduction system to generate biofuels, in particular, by mimicking the mechanism of natural photosynthesis using semiconducting nanomaterials interfaced with electroactive bacteria (EAB) in a photosynthetic microbial electrosynthesis (PMES) system. This review...

The combined effect of polyaniline (PANI) coating on the carbon felt anode material and anodic inoculum pretreatment using Chaetoceros was evaluated in this study. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) with a PANI modified anode could generate a maximum power density of 216 mW/m² (20.52 W/m³). Similarly, MFC with a pretreated inoculum in the anodic chamber...

In this study, the efficacy of biofloc system was assessed for polyculture Indian major carp, e.g., rohu (Labeo rohita), catla (Catla catla), and mrigal (Cirrihinus mrigala) cultured at varied stocking densities (STD) from 4.28, 8.57, and 12.85 fish m⁻³ of tank volume. Biofloc system could efficiently remove inorganic nitrogen from culture water an...

Porous catalysts with higher activated surface area are strategic materials to enhance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and for improving performance of the microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this investigation, highly porous cage-like zirconium-metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF) was synthesized by solvothermal method and used as ORR catalyst in an air-c...

Bio-electroreduction of CO2 to formate is carried out in a double-chambered microbial electrolysis system (MES) using the iron phthalocyanine (FePc) dispersed carbide-derived carbon (CDC) cathode. Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) released by prokaryotic E. coli catalyzes the CO2 reduction and acts as a promotor for selective formate generation. The prep...

Bio-electroreduction of CO2 to formate is carried out in a double-chambered microbial electrolysis system (MES) using the iron phthalocyanine (FePc) dispersed carbide-derived carbon (CDC) cathode. Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) released by prokaryotic E. coli catalyzes the CO2 reduction and acts as a promotor for selective formate generation. The prep...

Bio-electroreduction of CO2 to formate is carried out in a double-chambered microbial electrolysis system (MES) using the iron phthalocyanine (FePc) dispersed carbide-derived carbon (CDC) cathode. Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) released by prokaryotic E. coli catalyzes the CO2 reduction and acts as a promotor for selective formate generation. The prep...

In this study, magnetite/zeolite (MZ) was successfully synthesized to use as a feasible and cost-effective cathode catalyst for enhancing methane generation in a microbial electrochemical system (MES). The novel MZ catalyst consists of hydrophilic zeolite cores and conductive magnetite nanoparticles for enhanced electroactive biofilm development on...

Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) efficiently fix CO2 into valuable chemicals. A biocathode, which plays central role in MES process, is expected to have very high surface area and catalytic activity to derive the cathodic reaction flawlessly. In this study, a highly porous bimetallic FexMnOy microsphere was synthesized and applied as cathode cataly...

Production of valuable chemicals and fuels using bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) from low-valued solids, liquid, and gaseous wastes has gained enormous attention among scientific communities. For example, a microbial fuel cell can produce bioelectricity using wastewater as substrate in anode and oxygen as oxidant in cathode. Partial desalination...

Methane enrichment in anaerobic digestion (AD) is definitely required to enhance the calorific value of biogas to ensure its application as an off-grid energy source. Electromethanation in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) integrated with the AD process is a promising technology because of its efficient conversion of CO2 to methane at the biocathod...

Performance of methane-producing microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) is highly reliant on electron transfer efficiency from electrode to microorganisms and vice versa. In this study, magnetite nanoparticles were used as electron carriers to enhance extracellular electron transfer in single chamber MESs. The MES with magnetite exhibited the hig...

In this study, highly efficient, yet low cost mixed transition metal oxide of Ni and Co as CoO-NiO was synthesized using Azadirachta indica leaf extract as bioactive chelating agent. As-synthesized CoO-NiO was further used as cathode catalyst to improve the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC). X-ray diffraction and transmission electron micros...

Production of biofuels and other value-added products from wastewater along with quality treatment is an uttermost necessity to achieve environmental sustainability and promote bio-circular economy. Algae-Microbial fuel cell (A-MFC) with algae in cathode chamber offers several advantages e.g. photosynthetic oxygenation for electricity recovery, CO2...

This study explored alcohol production from volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in single-chambered microbial electrosynthesis systems (MES) under continuous pH control (≤pH 5.5) for methanogen inhibition. MES with 2 g-COD/l VFA could produce highest current of 5.3 mA followed by 3.6 mA in 6 g-COD/l and 0.44 mA in 8 g-COD/l, implying active bioelectrochemi...

The occurrence of biofouling in MFC can cause severe problems such as hindering proton transfer and increasing the ohmic and charge transfer resistance of cathodes, which results in a rapid decline in performance of MFC. This is one of the main reasons why scaling-up of MFCs has not yet been successfully accomplished. The present review article is...

Efficient energy utilization of traction device includes maximization of energy efficiency indices (i.e. pulling ability and tractive power efficiency) with optimum slip range. The present study compares the performance of 13.6 × 28 bias and radial-ply tyres (T1 and T2) used in agricultural tractors under controlled soil bin conditions. With a view...

The aim of this study was to determine an optimal anode material for electricity production and COD removal from xylose containing synthetic wastewater in an up-flow microbial fuel cell (MFC), and assess its suitability for treatment of thermomechanical pulping (TMP) wastewater with an enrichment culture at 37 °C. The anode materials tested include...

A highly active cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is the key to the efficient production of renewable energy from waste resources using microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Among non-noble metal catalysts, transition metals have shown promising activity towards ORR. In this study, synergy between cobalt (Co) and iron phthalocyanine (FePc...

A sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) could offer sustainable solution for bio-remediation of aquaculture used water to maintain favorable condition for fishes and simultaneously can produce bio-electricity. In this study, the performance of the SMFC was enhanced by enriching the sediment using cellulose at the rate of 4 wt. % and 6 wt. % by making...

Low cost tungsten oxide/bismuth tungstate (WO3/Bi2WO6) composite was synthesized and used as cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cell (MFC). Almost 1.5 times increment in specific surface area of WO3/Bi2WO6 composite was observed as compared with WO3 and WO3/Bi2WO6 exhibited efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) having a current peak of 8.1 mA a...

Waste generation from healthcare facilities now has become a concerning issue as it contains plastic and metals. Medicine wrappers are one of the major portion of healthcare solid waste, which impel intensive solid waste management practice due to less possibilities of deriving by-products. However, it can be recycled and used as electrode material...

In this study, Ag–Pt alloy on carbon support was synthesized with a simple wet chemical precipitation method and used as biocidal cathode catalyst in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). X-ray diffraction analysis revealed cubic symmetry of Ag3Pt alloy could be synthesized, which was found to be homogenously distributed over carbon skeleton. Cyclic voltamm...

A low-cost electrochemically active oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst is obligatory for making microbial fuel cells (MFCs) sustainable and economically viable. In this endeavour, a highly active surface modified ferrite, with Co and Zn bimetal in the ratio of 1:1 (w/w), Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 was synthesised using simple sol-gel auto combustion met...

Microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a novel bio-electrochemical system, capable of removing salts and organic matter from wastewater simultaneously. For improving the performance, a carbon supported silver-tin dioxide (Ag-SnO2) composite was synthesized and used as cathode catalyst in a five-chambered MDC (MDC-1). The results were compared with MD...

Electricity generation from microbial fuel cell (MFC) can be enhanced by proper manifestation of electrogenic bacterial growth on anode surface. Effect of graphene oxide (GO)/ Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composite bio-anode and Chaetoceros pre-treated anodic inoculum on electricity generation in MFC was investigated in the present work. MFC usin...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been attracting increasing interest during the past decade as an energy-recovery wastewater treatment technology. The application of suitable low-cost cathode catalysts to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the development of low-cost separators are posing major challenges for the practical applications...

Cu-Sn bimetallic alloy supported on acetylene black was prepared and tested under different loadings per unit cathode surface area viz. 1 mg.cm⁻², 2 mg.cm⁻² and 5 mg.cm⁻² as a catalyst to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and to enhance performance of the microbial fuel cell (MFC). Electrochemical analyses were performed to evaluate the O...

Overpotential losses on cathode during oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) causes serious performance depletion in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). High cost of existing platinum based noble catalysts is one of the main reason for growing interest in the research of low cost sustainable cathode catalysts to improve ORR in order to enhance power generation...

Methanogenic substrate loss is reported to be a major bottleneck in microbial fuel cell (MFC), which significantly reduces the power production capacity and coulombic efficiency (CE) of this system. Nitroethane is found to be a potent inhibitor of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in rumen fermentation process. Influence of nitroethane pre-treated sewag...

A hydroxyl group-containing new cardo diamine monomer was synthesized, namely 9,9-bis (hydroxy- (4’-amino(3-trifluoromethyl)biphenyl-4-oxy)-phenyl)-9H-fluorene (mixture of isomers, HAPHPF). HAPHPF along with a sulfonated diamine monomer, 4,4’-diaminostilbene-2,2’-disulfonic acid (DSDSA), were used to prepare a series of new sulfonated copolyimides...

The synthesis, characterization and establishment of the structure-property relationship of a series of new semifluorinated sulfonated polytriazoles (PTCTSH-XX) with varying degrees of sulfonation are described. The polymers were synthesized by the click polymerization reaction of a mixture of two diazide monomers, the non-sulfonated diazide monome...

Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are the auspicious technology, can recover energy from wastes in low-cost, but the low-level power recovery from these devices is great obstacle towards its community acceptance. In this study, the performance of SMFC could be prominently improved by using graphene oxide – Zeolite modified anode (GZMA) and appl...

Bismuth impregnation on pure TiO2 (Bi–TiO2) was carried out and tested in microbial fuel cell (MFC) as photocathode catalyst. UV–Visible spectral observation confirmed higher catalytic activity of Bi–TiO2 under visible light irradiation with reduced band gap of 2.80 eV as compared to pure TiO2 (3.26 eV). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy also...

In this experiment, a new bimetal low–cost Cu–Sn alloy was synthesized and it was tested as catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in MFC and the results were compared with the commercially available Pt-C catalyst. Cyclic voltammetry for evaluating ORR of the test cathode containing Cu-Sn catalysts under oxygen saturated environment displayed...

A Microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a novel technology, which employs microbes as catalysts for the conversion of organic matter into electricity with simultaneous desalination of saline water. Cathodic reduction reaction is a captious process which governs the overall performance of MDCs and it can be enhanced by sustainable catalysts on cathod...

Three MFCs with different catalyst incorporated on carbon felt cathode, viz. nickel phthalocyanine-MnO x (NiPc-MnO x ) composite (MFC-1), platinum (MFC-2), control MFC with bare carbon felt (MFC-3) were used for treating distillery wastewater. The linear sweep voltammetry studies revealed that a maximum current density of 3.7 Am ⁻² was achieved for...

In recent years, the research work focus in energy sector has been shifted towards the renewable energy due to continuous depletion of conventional energy sources. On the other hand, exponentially increasing pollution in water reserves has stimulated phenomenal debates among researchers, pollution control agencies, and stakeholders in search of sus...

Solar energy is gaining enormous attention from researchers, environmentalists, government agencies and stake holders due to its inexhaustible availability, environmental friendly and easy to tap. This experiment was designed to evaluate the efficiency and cooking performance of a solar reflector with steam generator under different climatic condit...

Locally available carbonaceous waste products viz. wheat flour, rice flour and tapioca flour recovered from flour industries were explored as carbon source for biofloc production and water quality management in light limited indoor aquariums without any culture species. The main objective of the study was to find out the efficacy of locally availab...

Extensive utilization of corrosive chemicals to derive nanoparticles for different useful purposes, for instance catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for microbial fuel cells (MFC), has provoked global debate on sustainability of environment. Therefore, for environmental sustainability, paradigm shift of synthesis methods to green synthesis...

In this experiment, a new bimetal low–cost Cu–Sn alloy was synthesized and it was tested as catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in MFC and the results were compared with the commercially available Pt-C catalyst. Cyclic voltammetry for evaluating ORR of the test cathode containing Cu-Sn catalysts under oxygen saturated environment displayed...

The present investigation explores the potentiality of porous tetrahedral zeolite clay composited with graphene oxide (GO) to be used as superior biocompatible anode material for microbial fuel cell (MFC). Anode base material carbon felt was modified either with GO-zeolite (GZMA) or only GO (GMA) and used as anode in the MFCs. Cyclic voltammetry an...

Performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with carbon supported nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc)single bondMnOx composite (MFC-1) and nickel phthalocyanine (MFC-2) incorporated cathode was compared with a control MFC with non-catalysed carbon felt as cathode (MFC-3) and MFC-4 having Pt on cathode (as benchmark reference control). MFC-1 exhibited power...

Correction for ‘Novel application of peptaibiotics derived from Trichoderma sp. for methanogenic suppression and enhanced power generation in microbial fuel cells’ by M. M. Ghangrekar et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 10707–10717.

A major limitation to achieve higher power output from microbial fuel cells (MFC) is the development of competitive environment for substrate utilization offered by methanogenic archaea. This study reveals the comparative electrical performance of MFC, where the enrichment of anodic electrogenic inoculum was done with two low-cost peptaibiotics rec...

Cathodes were fabricated around stainless steel wire mesh current collector, using vanadium pentoxide nanorods (V2O5-NRs) as catalyst supported with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and Vulcan XC, for application in microbial fuel cell. Cyclic voltammetry analysis showed multiple redox current peaks of V2O5-NRs under applied potential range, revealing...

In the past few years, substantial depletion of wild fish stock in natural water bodies has been reported, which has led to the increase in demand for aquaculture. At the same time, aquaculture industries have drawn huge criticism from environmental protection agencies for adversely affecting environmental, social and economic sustainability. High...

Morphological analysis of biofouling developed on cathode surface in an air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) was performed. For sustaining power production and enhancing Coulombic efficiency (CE) of MFC, studies were conducted to inhibit cathode biofouling using different loadings of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) with 5% and 10% Ag in carbon black...

Composite membranes were developed from PVA-borosilicate (MP) and PVA-Nafion-borosilicate (MPN) for application in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The membranes were characterized in terms of water uptake, PBS uptake, oxygen diffusion and proton conductivity. Proton conductivity for MPN (0.07 Scm⁻¹) was found to be higher as compared to that of MP (0....

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising technology that entails a bio-electrochemical system which converts chemical energy into electricity using electrochemically active micro-organisms and simultaneously has the ability for effective wastewater treatment. However, the power harnessed is not up to the optimum level due to various bottlenecks suc...

Development of cost effective metal-based catalyst cathode for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is necessary to produce higher power in MFC. In this study MnO2 was synthesized using chemical co-precipitation method and tested in MFC as cathode catalyst. Two single chamber MFCs, catalyzed MFC (MFC-M) coated with carbon supported MnO2 (0.5 m...

Performance of air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) was evaluated using vanadium pentoxide microflowers (V2O5-MFs) catalyst on cathode and the results were compared with α-MnO2 nanotubes (α-MnO2-NTs). The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics was determined using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). M...

Two microbial desalination cells (MDCs), MDC-1 having anion exchange membrane (AEM) near anode and cation exchange membrane (CEM) near cathode and MDC-2 having CEM near anode and AEM near cathode, were used for removal of total dissolved solids (TDS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from wastewater. Performance of MDCs was evaluated at different ca...