Recent progress and developments in membrane materials for microbial electrochemistry technologies: A review

Abstract

Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) are alternative green processes to produce useful products and energy from renewable sources without causing extra environmental pollution while treating wastes. METs convert the chemical energy stored in biodegradable substrates to direct electric current and by-products using microorganisms with oxidation and reduction reactions. The separation is one of the most important issues in METs. Membranes are commonly used and a variety of membranes have been offered in METs including ion-exchange, composite, porous, and ceramic membranes METs. However, many problems have been identified such as high cost of membrane, inefficient separation of ions, unwanted soluble molecules diffusion, substrate crossovers, and biofouling. In this review, currently available state-of-art membrane technologies for METs applications are presented. The future studies for overcoming the challenges associated with upgradation is also discussed. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.