An anoxic/oxic microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactor was applied to treat domestic sewage with intermittent aeration at cathodic chamber. The MFC yielded maximum power density of 2.05 W/m(3) at current density 6.05 A/m(3), 91.7 +/- 0.3% chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 98.2 +/- 0.3% ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) removals could be reached with most of the hydrophilic (HPI), hydrophobic acid (HPO-A), transphilic acid (TPI-A) of the former being consumed with minimal residual aromatics and the most of NH3-N being converted to N-2. When the circuit was opened, the COD removal was dropped to 81.1 +/- 0.6% and NH3-N to 80.4 +/- 0.9% with most of the HPI, TPI-A and hydrophobic neutral (HPO-N) fractions of the former being consumed with excess aromatic residue and 60% of the latter being converted to NO2-N or NO3-N in effluent. Bioelectrochemical reactions in the tested MFC enhance COD and NH3-N removals from domestic sewage. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.