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).
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).