SUSTAINABLE TREATMENT OF WASTE COCONUT WATER FROM COPRA INDUSTRY USING MICROBIAL DESALINATION CELL (MDC)RENU PAWELS AND SANJU SREEDHARANAbstract Clean drinking water sources are polluted day by day due to improper discharge of untreated or partially treated effluents, even though more than 2% of the worldâs electrical energy is used for sanitation. Huge amount of coconut water is wasted from copra industries. Waste coconut water is either discharged directly into the soil or drained without any treatment from most of the small/ medium-scale copra processing units. This in turn results in soil contamination, groundwater leaching problems and emission of bad odours. Microbial Desalination cell (MDC) is a Bioelectrochemical system that simultaneously generates electricity from the biodegradation of organic compounds and desalinate saline water using the electric potential created. The present study evaluates the potential of a three-chambered MDC, to reduce the organic strength of coconut water in a sustainable manner with production of bioenergy. This paper analyzed the role of various factors such as KMnO4 concentration as the electron acceptor (Catholyte), concentration of saline brackish water in the central chamber, Catholyte pH, and temperature on COD removal efficiency using MDC. The electric potential generated from MDC was also measured simultaneously. Using an optimized KMnO4 concentration of 2500 mg/l at pH 5 as Catholyte and brackish water concentration of 2000 mg/l in the central chamber, MDC produced a COD removal efficiency of 47.68 % using Aluminium electrode within 102 hours of detention period at ambient temperature. The cell could generate an electric potential of 1.1 V consistently for a period of more than 24 hours. |