Assessment of Heavy Metal Removal in Different Bioelectrochemical Systems: A Review

Global industrialization has led to an alarming level of release of hazardous and toxic metals in water bodies. Disposal of wastewater containing heavy metals can have adverse impacts on human health, as well as on other components of the environment. The various conventional treatment processes used to date have many disadvantages, such as high amounts of sludge generation, chemical requirements, and cost. Bioelectrochemical systems can overcome these disadvantages and can generate renewable energy or valuable chemicals out of these wastes. Bioelectrochemical systems are processes that can convert the chemical energy derived from oxidation of waste into electrical energy. This chemical energy is derived by the microbial population present in activated sludge. This paper reviews the studies conducted on the three bioelectrochemical processes, namely a microbial fuel cell (MFC), a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC), and a microbial desalination cell (MDC), to treat industrial wastewater rich in heavy metals.