Authors
Rawan Mohammed Alarishi, Arulazhagan Pugazhendi, Dinesh Kumar Mathew, Babajan Banaganapalli, Kowsalya Palanisamy, Tabreaz Basrur Zainula, Jeyakumar Dhavamani
Published in
Biotech (Basel (Switzerland)). Volume 15. Issue 4. Oct 01, 2026. Epub Oct 01, 2026.
Abstract
High organic pollutant load and salinity pose major challenges for the biological treatment of industrial wastewater. This study evaluated an air-cathode microbial fuel cell (AC-MFC) inoculated with halophilic microorganisms for the simultaneous treatment of phenol-contaminated saline industrial wastewater and bioelectricity generation. The AC-MFC was operated at organic loads (OLs) of 1.2, 2.5, 3.2, 4.8, 6.2 and 8.6 g chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L, with optimum performance at 6.2 g COD/L. In optimal conditions, the system achieved a maximum voltage of 803 mV, power density of 460.6 mW/m2, current density of 573.6 mA/m2, and total and soluble COD removal efficiencies of 90% and 89%, respectively. Complete phenol degradation was achieved within 8 days. High-throughput sequencing revealed dominant halophilic taxa, including Ochrobactrum, Marinobacter, Bacillus and Stenotrophomonas, which may contribute to pollutant degradation and extracellular electron transfer. A Random Forest regression model implemented using Python/scikit-learn was further developed using OL and operational time as input variables to predict treatment and electrochemical performance. The model identified 6.2 gCOD/L as the optimum OL, consistent with the experimental results. Overall, inoculation of halophilic consortium coupled with AC-MFC technology demonstrates potential for simultaneous treatment of saline phenolic wastewater and bioelectricity generation, while artificial intelligence provides a useful tool for process optimization.
PMID:
42930063
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Oct 2026.
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