Generation of electricity from whey: An electrochemical process

Abstract

This study is concentrated on the electricity generation from whey over and done with a fabricated electrochemical cell. Whey (milk serum) is one of the prominent sources of bio-electrolyte because of containing abundant amount of branched-chain amino acids. Moreover, the pH value of fresh whey was found about 3.1-3.3. Two categories of preservation techniques have been revealed by thermal treatment and adding 2% phenol by volume. It was observed that phenol treated whey was free form microbial attack for longer time compared to that of thermal treatment. In agitation assisted bio-electrochemical reactor, voltage and power density were increased with the increase of electrode surface area. Maximum 17.35 volt was obtained from 6.5 liters of whey through an agitation assisted electrochemical reactor.  In addition, commercial alloy electrode shows satisfactory results on power generation and reducing internal resistance compares with the experimental pure metal electrode.

Keywords

• Bio-electricity; Whey; Bio-electrochemical reactor; Amino acid; Baffle agitation system

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