A Reduced Model for Microbial Fuel Cell

Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering Technology

In this study, four double-chambered Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) operated by primary effluent wastewater mixed with anaerobic sludge as substrate, was designed, built, and optimized for better higher energy production and subsequently better removal of organic matter. Optimized MFCs operating parameters as a function of energy produced include electrode material type, electrode size, salt bridge diameter, type of salt solution that used in salt bridge, and concentration of the salt solution used in the salt bridge. Three duplicates-MFCs for each parameter value were used. Output open-circuit voltage (OCV) was measured for each MFC one time daily and for one week for each tested operating parameter. Data obtained showed that (i) MFCs with copper electrodes produce output voltage significantly higher than MFCs with carbon brushes electrodes which, in turn, achieved output voltage significantly higher than both that achieved by MFCs with zinc electrodes and MFCs with manufactured carbo...

Introduction of Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) technology has shown metabolic degradation of wide range organic substrates in wastewater and sludge. Intensified studies are geared towards elucidation behavior of bacteria in the process. This review presents the fundamentals of MFC technology and its application as power source for subsea and biomedical devices as well as biotreatment of wastewater. A wide variety of industrial, agro/agro allied and domestic wastewater as sources of organic and inorganic substrate is effectively converted to electricity with about 40-90% COD and BOD reduction, while achieving applicable power generation and Columbic efficiency. A good knowledge of the MFC is required for sustainable improvement of the MFC application.

2017

Much energy is stored in wastewaters. How efficiently capture this stored energy is of great significance for meeting theworld’s energy needs and increasing the sustainable electrical energy from wastewater. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a recently developed promising technology for electrical energy recovery from the organic pollutants in wastewaters. MFCs also have great promise for sustainable wastewater treatment. However, at present there is still much research needed before the MFC technique can be practically implemented in the real world. In this review, analyze the opportunities and key challenges for MFCs to achieve sustainability of energy from wastewater. Specially the problems and challenges for scaling up the MFC systems; this is the most critical issue for realizing the practical implementation of this technique. In order to achieve sustainability, MFCs may also be combined with other new techniques to yield high quality of waste from waste water. However, research...

Membranes

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a system that can generate electricity by harnessing microorganisms’ metabolic activity. MFCs can be used in wastewater treatment plants since they can convert the organic matter in wastewater into electricity while also removing pollutants. The microorganisms in the anode electrode oxidize the organic matter, breaking down pollutants and generating electrons that flow through an electrical circuit to the cathode compartment. This process also generates clean water as a byproduct, which can be reused or released back into the environment. MFCs offer a more energy-efficient alternative to traditional wastewater treatment plants, as they can generate electricity from the organic matter in wastewater, offsetting the energy needs of the treatment plants. The energy requirements of conventional wastewater treatment plants can add to the overall cost of the treatment process and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. MFCs in wastewater treatment plants can ...

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2015

Small scale microbial fuel cells Rapid prototype materials Urine Twist n' Play design COD removal a b s t r a c t Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are a sustainable energy technology with minimal carbon footprint, which is promising for wastewater remediation and generation of useful amounts of electricity. This study focuses on the architecture and rapid prototyping materials used for building MFCs and their effect on overall performance. Three MFC variants of the same design were constructed using ABS, PC-ISO and RC25 materials and were compared with an established MFC design. MFCs were assessed in terms of power production and COD reduction both individually and when connected electrically in parallel.

Bioresources and Bioprocessing, 2017

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices that exploit living microbes for electricity generation coupled to organics degradation. MFCs are expected to be applied to energy-saving wastewater treatment (WWT) as alternatives to activated-sludge reactors (ASRs). Although extensive laboratory studies have been performed to develop technologies for WWT-MFCs, limited information is available for comparative evaluation of MFCs and ASRs in terms of organics removal and waste-sludge production. In the present study, laboratory WWT experiments were performed using cassette-electrode MFCs and ASRs that were continuously supplied either with artificial domestic wastewater (ADW) containing starch and peptone or with artificial industrial wastewater (AIW) containing methanol as the major organic matter. We found that these two types of WWT reactors achieved similar organics-removal efficiencies, namely, over 93% based on chemical oxygen demands for the ADW treatment and over 97% for the AIW treatment. Sludge was routinely removed from these reactors and quantified, showing that amounts of waste sludge produced in MFCs were approximately one-third or less compared to those in ASRs. During WWT, MFCs continuously generated electricity with Coulombic efficiencies of 20% or more. In reference to ASRs, MFCs are demonstrated to be attractive WWT facilities in terms of stable organics removal and low waste-sludge production. Along with the unnecessity of electric power for aeration and the generation of power during WWT, the results obtained in the present study suggest that MFCs enable substantial energy saving during WWT.

Applied Sciences, 2021

Nowadays, the world is experiencing an energy crisis due to extensive globalization and industrialization. Most of the sources of renewable energy are getting depleted, and thus, there is an urge to locate alternative routes to produce energy efficiently. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a favorable technology that utilizes electroactive microorganisms acting as a biocatalyst at the anode compartment converting organic matter present in sewage water for bioelectricity production and simultaneously treating wastewater. However, there are certain limitations with a typical stand-alone MFC for efficient energy recovery and its practical implementation, including low power output and high cost associated with treatment. There are various modifications carried out on MFC for eliminating the limitations of a stand-alone MFC. Examples of such modification include integration of microbial fuel cell with capacitive deionization technology, forward osmosis technology, anaerobic digester, and cons...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gained a lot of attention in recent years for its ability to convert organic matter into electricity in the presence of microbes. Lot of research has been carried out on using wide range of substrates like acetate, glucose, monosaccharaides, domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater etc. Phenol and detergent are the major toxic components from industrial and domestic wastewater. If it is left untreated it can have detrimental effect on all kinds of aquatic life. In industries there are methods available for the treatment of these contaminants; however research on use of MFCs for treatment of these contaminants is still in infant stage. Using MFC will have a dual advantage of wastewater treatment as well as electricity generation. In this study a dual-chamber MFC was fabricated with a CMI 7000 membrane separating the chambers and carbon electrodes for both anode and cathode. Experiments were carried out to study the impact of microbes, type of substrate, substrate concentration and substrate refilling at regular intervals on voltage generated by MFC. Performance of MFC was studied by determining the voltage across 1kΩ resistor. Furthermore, Industrial waste water from a local soap industry was used as a substrate along with the other substrates prepared in-house. Results showed that a stable voltage of around 134mV can be obtained with phenol as substrate along with a mixed culture of pseudomonas aeruginosa and shewanella putrefaciens in comparison with all other combinations of substrates and microbes.

Introduction of Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) technology has shown metabolic degradation of wide range organic substrates in wastewater and sludge. Intensified studies are geared towards elucidation behavior of bacteria in the process. This review presents the fundamentals of MFC technology and its application as power source for subsea and biomedical devices as well as biotreatment of wastewater. A wide variety of industrial, agro/agro allied and domestic wastewater as sources of organic and inorganic substrate is effectively converted to electricity with about 40-90% COD and BOD reduction, while achieving applicable power generation and Columbic efficiency. A good knowledge of the MFC is required for sustainable improvement of the MFC application.

The need for alternate eco-friendly fuel is increasing rapidly with the depletion of non-renewable energy resources. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a new form of renewable energy, which converts organic matter into electricity with the help of bacteria present in wastewater, while simultaneously treating the wastewater. In the present study single chamber (MFC-1) and double chambered (MFC-2) MFCs were compared for domestic and dairy wastewater treatment and electricity generation. MFC-1 was proved to be more efficient and found to be producing maximum current of 0.84 mA and 1.02mA whereas MFC-2 produced maximum current of 0.56mA and 0.58mA from full strength (100%) domestic and dairy wastewater concentrations respectively. COD removal efficiency achieved in MFC-2 was 88.4% and 86.42% for 100% domestic and dairy wastewater concentrations respectively when compared with MFC-1 which attained 86.6% and 84.8% respectively for 100% domestic and dairy wastewater concentrations respectively. The performance of MFC-1 and MFC-2 decreased, when the wastewater concentration was decreased from 100% to 75% and 50% concentrations.