Combination of microbial fuel cell and zeolite Na-Y adsorption for chromium removal

Hexavalent chromium, Cr (VI), is widely used in electroplating industry. The chromium waste which can be released to the environment should be controlled due to its toxic properties. Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) in combination with adsorption technique as a promising way to treat chromium waste has been developed. The main principle of this technique is converting Cr(VI) ions to Cr(III) ions, then adsorp it on the surface of zeolite Na-Y in MFC system. The Zeolite Na-Y was synthesized by hydrothermal method. The obtained Zeolite Na-Y was characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and N2 physisorption. The performance of MFC for chromium removal from the liquid waste was measured using AAS. This measurement aims to monitor amount of chromium in the liquid waste. The power density of MFC system was also monitored using AVO meters. The XRD pattern of zeolite-Y synthesis result has complied with Zeolite-Y JCPDS standard no. 39-1380. Scanning electron microscope of zeolite-Y formed octahedral crystal which is specific zeolite-Y crystal. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of zeolite-Y shows of (Si-O-Si) or (O-Si-O) bend vibration at 457-462 cm−1, (Si-O-Al) symmetric stretch vibration at 663,53 cm−1, and (Si-O-Al) asymmetric stretch vibration at 1010-1033.88 cm−1. The higher amount removal of chromium at combination technique 2 for 120 minutes which dramatically increase up to 90.96 % with the power density around 2.5 mW/m2.