This paper investigates simultaneous boron removal from aqueous solutions, organic matter removal from industrial wastewater and energy production using a Microbial Desalination Cell (MDC). Anode chamber of the conventional MDC cell was modified to include 3D cubic electrodes as a novel design. Effects of operating parameters, including electrode type (3D-electrode and 2D-electrode), anolyte solution temperature (20 °C, 40 °C, and 60 °C), and activated sludge:wastewater volumetric ratio (S:WW = 1:1, 1:2, and 1:5), on MDC performance were studied. Furthermore, real geothermal water treatment was investigated under optimum operating conditions. Boron and organic matter removal efficiencies and the produced power density results were promising for 3D-electrodes under optimum operating conditions. The maximum boron removal efficiency, COD removal efficiency, and power density were 55.5%, 91.5%, and 9.04 mW/m³ treating real geothermal water at optimum operating conditions. The analyses of Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX) demonstrated biofilm formation and salt deposition on membrane surfaces, which most probably reduced the performance of MDC. Consequently, our results showed that use of 3D-electrodes was a promising improvement to the conventional configurations with 2-D electrodes since removal efficiencies and energy production were comparable for a more compact electrode structure.

本文研究了使用微生物脱盐池 (MDC) 同时从水溶液中去除硼、从工业废水和能源生产中去除有机物。传统 MDC 电池的阳极室被修改为包括 3D 立方电极作为一种新颖的设计。操作参数的影响，包括电极类型（3D 电极和 2D 电极）、阳极液温度（20 °C、40 °C 和 60 °C）和活性污泥：废水体积比（S:WW = 1: 1、1:2 和 1:5)，对 MDC 性能进行了研究。此外，在最佳操作条件下研究了真实的地热水处理。在最佳操作条件下，3D 电极的硼和有机物去除效率以及产生的功率密度结果很有希望。最大的除硼效率，³在最佳操作条件下处理真正的地热水。具有能量色散 X 射线光谱仪 (SEM-EDX) 的扫描电子显微镜的分析表明，膜表面上的生物膜形成和盐沉积，这很可能会降低 MDC 的性能。因此，我们的结果表明，使用 3D 电极是对具有 2D 电极的传统配置的有希望的改进，因为对于更紧凑的电极结构而言，去除效率和能量产生是可比的。