Prof. Dr. Ir. Sri Rachmania Juliastuti MEng demonstrates her innovation using microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology

ITS Campus, ITS News — The amount of unregulated waste has become a persistent problem in Indonesia. Departing from this, the 204th professor of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Prof Dr Ir Sri Rachmania Juliastuti MEng innovates organic and inorganic waste into new renewable energy.

Following the 12th point of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Responsible Consumption and Production, the woman who is familiarly called Juli expressed her views on waste management in her inaugural scientific oration as a professor. She argues that waste management innovation is not limited to reducing waste, but also increasing product value and usefulness.

Through her research, the Chemical Engineering Department lecturer at ITS treats organic waste using microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. “MFC uses organic materials and electrogenesis bacteria to produce bioelectric energy,” explained the wife of Ir Indranata Yudianto MEng.

The Surabaya-born woman explained that MFC works by converting organic substrate content into electrical energy through the process of electron production. Electrons can be produced through the degradation of organic substrate materials by electrogenesis bacteria. “Electrogenesis bacteria act as microbes that can decompose organic materials into electrons,” said the doctoral alumnus of Catholic University Leuven, Belgium.

The appearance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology that utilizes tofu waste and Sidoarjo sludge to generate electrical energy

Sources of organic materials used in MFC include food waste, fishery waste, sewage waste, molasses waste, and other wastes. Through the research presented in her scientific oration, Juli utilized electrogenesis culture microbes such as Shewanella oneidensis-MR1 contained in Sidoarjo mud.

Not only the microbial content of electrogenesis, Juli also discovered another potential of Sidoarjo sludge as inorganic waste. In her research, she found the content of rare earth metals (in Indonesian terms, Logam Tanah Jarang, abbreviated and will be referred to as LTJ) that can be utilized to produce electronic devices. “We focus on extracting LTJ which is very potential and can be used as raw material later,” said the mother of one.

With this research, Juli plans to further optimize MFC technology with a continuous series stacked configuration system so that the generated electrical energy is greater and more stable. Thus, the electricity generated from MFC can be used as an alternative energy source to benefit the community.

Prof. Dr. Ir. Sri Rachmania Juliastuti MEng, the 204th professor at ITS, displays her scientific oration book presented during her professorial inauguration ceremony

Furthermore, the woman who once served as Head of the Laboratory of Industrial Waste Management and Biomass of Chemical Engineering Department at ITS revealed that she would endeavour to use bioelectric energy from MFCs as a source of electrical energy for rural areas. “The results of this electrical energy are expected to be able to meet the needs of electrical energy in the Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost (in Indonesian terms, Tertinggal, Terdepan, dan Terluar, abbreviated and will be referred to as 3T) areas in Indonesia,” she hoped optimistically.

This research is Juli’s contribution as an ITS professor to solving environmental problems and is expected to benefit the people of Indonesia. “Hopefully, this technology can be further developed and can be utilized by the wider community,” she concluded. (ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Nailah Rifdah Zakiyah