Arsenite removal from aqueous solution by a microbial fuel cell-zerovalent iron hybrid process.

Conventional zerovalent iron (ZVI) technology has low arsenic removal efficiency because of the slow ZVI corrosion rate. In this study, microbial fuel cell (MFC)-zerovalent iron (MFC-ZVI) hybrid process has been constructed and used to remove arsenite (As(III)) from aqueous solutions. Our results indicate that the ZVI corrosion directly utilizes the low-voltage electricity generated by MFC in the hybrid process and both the ZVI corrosion rate and arsenic removal efficiency are therefore substantially increased.