The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of alternating current (AC) on phenol removal in a microbial electrochemical system (MES) and determine its by-products. The bioreactor used for this purpose operates in the batch mode supplied with an AC power supply. The factors stimulating this process including frequency, applied voltage, duty cycle, carbon to nitrogen ratio, and the initial phenol concentration were investigated. The optimum operating conditions of the bioreactor were obtained at 5 Hz frequency, 0.4 peak-to-peak voltage (Vpp), C₀ = 100 mg.L⁻¹ phenol, pH = 7, C/N = 1, and the sine wave. Phenol was completely degraded under the optimum operating conditions for 2 h. The GC–MS analysis showed the presence of carboxylic acid, oxalic acid, and propionic acid. It was observed that the generated by-products are non-toxic and phenol is completely removed to nontoxic compounds. The results show that under optimum conditions, using an alternating current, the proposed system generated low-hazard byproducts with a low energy consumption.

进行本研究以研究交流电（AC）对微生物电化学系统（MES）中苯酚去除的影响并确定其副产物。用于此目的的生物反应器以分批模式操作，并配有交流电源。研究了刺激该过程的因素，包括频率，施加电压，占空比，碳氮比和初始苯酚浓度。生物反应器的最佳操作条件是在5 Hz频率，0.4峰峰电压（Vpp），C ₀  = 100 mg.L ^{-1的条件下获得的}苯酚，pH = 7，C / N = 1，正弦波。苯酚在最佳操作条件下完全降解2小时。GC-MS分析表明存在羧酸，草酸和丙酸。观察到所产生的副产物是无毒的，并且苯酚被完全除去为无毒的化合物。结果表明，在最佳条件下，使用交流电，该系统可产生低能耗的低危害副产品。