Journal of Green Energy Research and Innovation
Quarterly

Green Energy Generation and Sustainable Chromium Remediation in MSRC by Focusing on the Role of Microbial Bio-Supports

Document Type : Research article

Author

Marzie Razavi

Department of Civil Engineering, Tafresh University, 39518-79611, Tafresh, Iran.

10.61882/jgeri.3.1.56
Abstract
In this study, a hybrid microbial fuel cell–electrokinetic remediation system (MSRC) was developed to ‎remediate soil contaminated with hexavalent chromium while simultaneously generating bioelectricity. ‎Two configurations were compared: MSRC-1 with plain graphite electrodes and MSRC-2 with graphite ‎electrodes modified using activated carbon granules. The results demonstrated that electrode modification ‎significantly enhanced biofilm development and electron transfer, leading to higher system efficiency. ‎MSRC-2 achieved an open-circuit voltage of 641 mV, a maximum power density of 4.21 W/m³, and 83.5% ‎COD removal, compared to 406 mV, 1.23 W/m³, and 62.3% in MSRC-1. Chromium migration toward the ‎cathode was also more effective in MSRC-2, reducing soil concentrations to 68–99 µg/g. These findings ‎highlight the novelty of integrating activated-carbon-modified electrodes into a microbial fuel cell–‎electrokinetic system, offering an efficient and environmentally friendly approach for simultaneous energy ‎recovery and in-situ remediation of Cr‏ ‏‎(VI)-polluted soils‎‎‎‎.‎

Graphical Abstract

Green Energy Generation and Sustainable Chromium Remediation in MSRC by Focusing on the Role of Microbial Bio-Supports

Highlights

❖ A hybrid microbial fuel cell–electrokinetic system was developed to simultaneously remediate hexavalent chromium soil and generate bioelectricity.
❖ Electrodes modified with activated carbon granules significantly outperformed plain ones, increasing voltage to 641 mV and power density to 4.21 W/m³.
❖ The modified system achieved 83.5% COD removal and reduced soil chromium concentrations to 68–99 µg/g.
❖ This approach proves to be an efficient, eco-friendly solution for simultaneous energy recovery and in-situ soil remediation. 

Keywords

Microbial fuel cell
Electrokinetic remediation
Chromium
Soil remediation
Biofilm

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declare that she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The ethical issues, including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, have been completely observed by the author.

Credit Authorship Contribution Statement

Marzie Razavi: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Roles/Writing - original draft, Writing-review & editing.

Bibliography
Marzie Razavi obtained her M.Sc. degree in Environmental Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran in 2012 and her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran in 2020. She is currently a member of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Tafresh University. Her research interests include Water and Wastewater treatment, Electrokinetic Soil Remediation, Electrocoagulation and Energy production by Microbial Fuel Cell.

Citation
M. Razavi, "Green Energy Generation and Sustainable Chromium Remediation in MSRC by Focusing on the Role of Microbial Bio-Supports," Journal of Green Energy Research and Innovation, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 56-63, 2026.

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Journal of Green Energy Research and Innovation
Volume 3, Issue 1
Spring 2026
Pages 56-63

  • Receive Date 02 August 2025
  • Revise Date 26 August 2025
  • Accept Date 23 October 2025
  • Publish Date 01 April 2026

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