Modification of anodes with polyaniline coating in microbial electrolysis cell system to reduce ammonia concentration in fertilizer plant liquid waste

One innovation to improve ammonia degradation is the Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC) system which is a technology with prospects that utilize biomass or organic materials, including wastewater. However, the rate of degradation of ammonia with the MEC system is lower when compared to using other methods. Efforts can be made to optimize the ammonia degradation process by operating MEC using a design consortium consisting of Pseudomonas nitritireducens, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida, Pseudomonas taiwanensis, Pseudomonas monteili, and Geobacillus stearothermophillus. Another effort is to modify the anode by applying a layer of polyaniline. The MEC system used is a single compartment MEC with volume 100 mL, with optimum operating conditions based on polyaniline coating testing (PANI) as an ammonia degradation enhancer. Ammonia concentration will be tested using Spectrophotometry, and electrode morphology using FTIR Spectroscopy. The design consortium provides the best results in terms of the ammonia reduction profile of polyaniline coated MEC reactors with REmax acquisition of 1.905% or twice as efficient than standard MEC without modification on anode.