Degradation of potato peels using amylase- and pectinase-producing fungal strain in an electrochemical cell and by-product analysis

ABSTRACTDegradation of the waste using amylase- and pectinase-producing fungal strains in Microbial fuel cells (MFC) can be a sustainable and economic strategy for solid waste management. An isolate of the fungal strain Aspergillus niger, which showed amylase and pectinase activities was implemented for potato peel waste degradation. MFC was constructed and the highest OCV was observed using KMnO4 in catholyte (1586 ± 63 mV/m3) with anode graphite electrode-coated MWCNT. MFC in fed-batch mode was also performed by adding 10% of the sample every 24 h, and an improved result was obtained. The power density observed with 100-ohm and 1000-ohm external resistors was 119 ± 7 W/m3 and 42 ± 9 W/m3, respectively. From MFC operation at an optimised condition removal rate of COD, ammoniacal-nitrogen, reducing sugar and TSS were 37.69%, 67.72%, 72.64%, and 65.95% respectively. Sugar and byproduct analysis in digested product was done by HPLC, various value-added products were generated from waste sample.