Taking anaerobic sludge as inoculant and simulated domestic wastewater as its fuel, a two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) without electron mediator has been developed. Based on the evaluation indexes of output power density, coulombic efficiency and COD_Cr removal rate, four abiotic factors affecting MFC performance i.e. anode, cathode, substrates and electron acceptor were investigated with an orthogonal experiment (L₉(3⁴)). Meanwhile, the best ionic concentration in cathode chamber was determined. After 9 times comparing, it concluded that the impact order of factors through analyzing the value “R” was“electron acceptor＞anode＞cathode＞substrates”. The optimum set for MFC included carbon felt, sodium lactate, stainless steel plate, potassium ferricyanide and dissolved oxygen. Furthermore, by adding NaCl into cathode electrolyte, the electricity generation of MFC would enhanced greatly, and the optimum concentration was 150 mmol•L^－1. Meanwhile, it needed to add potassium ferricyanide regularly to maintain the current stable. Especially, the COD removal rates of different simulated wastewaters, including glucose, sodium lactate and the mixed pattern were all up to 85.2%, which showed that the MFC has strong ability of electricity generation and waste water purification.

Key words: microbial fuel cell (MFC), abiotic influence factor, orthogonal design, power generation, COD_Cr removal rate