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Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2015) | Viewed by 30833

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Dr. Chikashi Sato

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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave., Stop 8060, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA
Interests: energy recovery; microbial fuel cell; advanced oxidation process; pharmaceuticals and personal care products
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Dear Colleagues,

Energy is essential for living, economic development, and growth. As a declining fossil fuel supply is inevitable, there is a need for alternative, diverse, and sustainable (clean, renewable, cost effective) energy generation systems.

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) generates electricity, degrading abundant, renewable organic matter, which can be environmental pollutants; thus, MFC can be one of the sustainable energy generation systems of the future. Although MFC technology holds great promise, it has major shortcomings: (i) low power output; (ii) high capital cost; and (iii) uncertainty (limited knowledge) with field implementation and performance.

This Special Issue will focus on the recent advancement of MFC technologies, including power generation enhancement, capital cost reduction, and large-scale (pilot-scale) implementation.

Prof. Dr. Chikashi Sato
Guest Editors

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Keywords

microbial fuel cell
electricity generation
energy recovery
electrical energy storage
wastewater treatment
practical application

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

2197 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Systematic Study of Separators in Air-Breathing Flat-Plate Microbial Fuel Cells—Part 2: Numerical Modeling

by Sona Kazemi, Melissa Barazandegan, Madjid Mohseni and Khalid Fatih

Energies 2016, 9(2), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9020079 - 27 Jan 2016

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4533

Abstract

The separator plays a key role on the performance of passive air-breathing flat-plate MFCs (FPMFC) as it isolates the anaerobic anode from the air-breathing cathode. The goal of the present work was to study the separator characteristics and its effect on the performance of passive air-breathing FPMFCs. This was performed partially through characterization of structure, properties, and performance correlations of eight separators presented in Part 1. Current work (Part 2) presents a numerical model developed based on the mixed potential theory to investigate the sensitivity of the electrode potentials and the power output to the separator characteristics. According to this numerical model, the decreased peak power results from an increase in the mass transfer coefficients of oxygen and ethanol, but mainly increasing mixed potentials at the anode by oxygen crossover. The model also indicates that the peak power is affected by the proton transport number of the separator, which affects the cathode pH. Anode pH, on the other hand, remains constant due to application of phosphate buffer solution as the electrolyte. Also according to this model, the peak power is not sensitive to the resistivity of the separator because of the overshadowing effect of the oxygen crossover. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application)

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2229 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Systematic Study of Separators in Air-Breathing Flat-Plate Microbial Fuel Cells—Part 1: Structure, Properties, and Performance Correlations

by Sona Kazemi, Madjid Mohseni and Khalid Fatih

Energies 2016, 9(2), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9020078 - 27 Jan 2016

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4774

Abstract

Passive air-breathing microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a promising technology for energy recovery from wastewater and their performance is highly dependent on characteristics of the separator that isolates the anaerobic anode from the air-breathing cathode. The goal of the present work is to systematically study the separator characteristics and its effect on the performance of passive air-breathing flat-plate MFCs (FPMFCs). This was performed through characterization of structure, properties, and performance correlations of eight separators in Part 1 of this work. Eight commercial separators were characterized, in non-inoculated and inoculated setups, and were examined in passive air-breathing FPMFCs with different electrode spacing. The results showed a decrease in the peak power density as the oxygen and ethanol mass transfer coefficients in the separators increased, due to the increase of mixed potentials especially at smaller electrode spacing. Increasing the electrode spacing was therefore desirable for the application of diaphragms. The highest peak power density was measured using Nafion^®117 with minimal electrode spacing, whereas using Nafion^®117 or Celgard^® with larger electrode spacing resulted in similar peak powers. Part 2 of this work focuses on numerical modelling of the FPMFCs based on mixed potential theory, implementing the experimental data from Part 1. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application)

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4018 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Viable Electrode Material for Use in Microbial Fuel Cells for Tropical Regions

by Felix Offei, Anders Thygesen, Moses Mensah, Kwame Tabbicca, Dinesh Fernando, Irina Petrushina and Geoffrey Daniel

Energies 2016, 9(1), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9010035 - 07 Jan 2016

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 6045

Abstract

Electrode materials are critical for microbial fuel cells (MFC) since they influence the construction and operational costs. This study introduces a simple and efficient electrode material in the form of palm kernel shell activated carbon (AC) obtained in tropical regions. The novel introduction of this material is also targeted at introducing an inexpensive and durable electrode material, which can be produced in rural communities to improve the viability of MFCs. The maximum voltage and power density obtained (under 1000 Ω load) using an H-shaped MFC with AC as both anode and cathode electrode material was 0.66 V and 1.74 W/m³, respectively. The power generated by AC was as high as 86% of the value obtained with the extensively used carbon paper. Scanning electron microscopy and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of AC anode biofilms confirmed that electrogenic bacteria were present on the electrode surface for substrate oxidation and the formation of nanowires. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application)

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1706 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strategies for Reducing the Start-up Operation of Microbial Electrochemical Treatments of Urban Wastewater

by Zulema Borjas, Juan Manuel Ortiz, Antonio Aldaz, Juan Feliu and Abraham Esteve-Núñez

Energies 2015, 8(12), 14064-14077; https://doi.org/10.3390/en81212416 - 12 Dec 2015

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7367

Abstract

Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) constitute the core of a number of emerging technologies with a high potential for treating urban wastewater due to a fascinating reaction mechanism—the electron transfer between bacteria and electrodes to transform metabolism into electrical current. In the current work, we focus on the model electroactive microorganism Geobacter sulfurreducens to explore both the design of new start-up procedures and electrochemical operations. Our chemostat-grown plug and play cells, were able to reduce the start-up period by 20-fold while enhancing chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal by more than 6-fold during this period. Moreover, a filter-press based bioreactor was successfully tested for both acetate-supplemented synthetic wastewater and real urban wastewater. This proof-of-concept pre-pilot treatment included a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) followed in time by a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to finally generate electrical current of ca. 20 A·m⁻² with a power of 10 W·m⁻² while removing 42 g COD day⁻¹·m⁻². The effective removal of acetate suggests a potential use of this modular technology for treating acetogenic wastewater where Geobacter sulfurreducens outcompetes other organisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application)

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2424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Screen-Printed Electrodes: New Tools for Developing Microbial Electrochemistry at Microscale Level

by Marta Estevez-Canales, Antonio Berná, Zulema Borjas and Abraham Esteve-Núñez

Energies 2015, 8(11), 13211-13221; https://doi.org/10.3390/en81112366 - 19 Nov 2015

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7303

Abstract

Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) have a number of potential technological applications. In this work, we report the use of screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) as a tool to analyze the microbial electroactivity by using Geobacter sulfurreducens as a model microorganism. We took advantage of the small volume required for the assays (75 μL) and the disposable nature of the manufactured strips to explore short-term responses of microbial extracellular electron transfer to conductive materials under different scenarios. The system proved to be robust for identifying the bioelectrochemical response, while avoiding complex electrochemical setups, not available in standard biotechnology laboratories. We successfully validated the system for characterizing the response of Geobacter sulfurreducens in different physiological states (exponential phase, stationary phase, and steady state under continuous culture conditions) revealing different electron transfer responses. Moreover, a combination of SPE and G. sulfurreducens resulted to be a promising biosensor for quantifying the levels of acetate, as well as for performing studies in real wastewater. In addition, the potential of the technology for identifying electroactive consortia was tested, as an example, with a mixed population with nitrate-reducing capacity. We therefore present SPEs as a novel low-cost platform for assessing microbial electrochemical activity at the microscale level. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fuel Cells: Power-up, Cost Reduction and Practical Application)

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