scholarly journals Overview of Recent Advancements in the Microbial Fuel Cell from Fundamentals to Applications: Design, Major Elements, and Scalability

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami G. A. Flimban ◽  
Iqbal M. I. Ismail ◽  
Taeyoung Kim ◽  
Sang-Eun Oh
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Major Elements ◽  
Waste Products ◽  
Electrode Shape ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Energy From Waste

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology offers an alternative means for producing energy from waste products. In this review, several characteristics of MFC technology that make it revolutionary will be highlighted. First, a brief history presents how bioelectrochemical systems have advanced, ultimately describing the development of microbial fuel cells. Second, the focus is shifted to the attributes that enable MFCs to work efficiently. Next, follows the design of various MFC systems in use including their components and how they are assembled, along with an explanation of how they work. Finally, microbial fuel cell designs and types of main configurations used are presented along with the scalability of the technology for proper application. The present review shows importance of design and elements to reduce energy loss for scaling up the MFC system including the type of electrode, shape of the single reactor, electrical connection method, stack direction, and modulation. These aspects precede making economically applicable large-scale MFCs (over 1 m3 scale) a reality.

scholarly journals Microbial Fuel Cell and its Efficiency in Treating Wastewater - a Novel Technique for Wastewater Treatment

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.12) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
B Antony Fantin ◽  
S Ramesh ◽  
J S.Sudarsan ◽  
P Vanamoorthy Kumaran
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Organic Content ◽  
Good Energy

Due to depletion of coal and other natural fuel there is an urgent need to find eco-friendly and workable technology for alternate energy. Microbial fuel cells is considered as assuringmethod to extract energy from various sources of wastewater and to generate electricity. But, due to practical limits, MFCs are still unsuitable to meet high power demands. Since wastewater contains several contaminants including organic substances, therefore, generation of electric energy from wastewater using MFC can offer an alternate solution for electricity issue as well as to reduce environmental pollution. Microbial fuel cells harvest electrical energy from wastewater with the help of microorganisms present within the wastewater. The energy confined in organic matter converted in to useful electric current. In Microbial Fuel Cell electrons from the microorganisms transfer from a reduced electron donor to an electron acceptor at a higher electrochemical potential. The study highlights that wastewater with high organic content found to be more effective and it also gives good energy production. If the same concept implemented in large scale it can help in achieving sustainable development and it helps in achieving 3R formula in the process of wastewater treatment. 

scholarly journals A Compact Versatile Microbial Fuel Cell From Paper

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke T. Wagner ◽  
Niloofar Hashemi ◽  
Nastaran Hashemi
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Syringe Pump ◽  
Special Equipment ◽  
Specific Flow ◽  
Waste Container

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been a potential green energy source for a long time but one of the problems is that either the technology must be used on a large scale or special equipment have been necessary to keep the fuel cells running such as syringe pumps. Paper-based microbial fuel cells do not need to have a syringe pump to run and can run entirely by themselves when placed in contact with the fluids that are necessary for it to run. Paper-based microbial fuel cells are also more compact than traditional MFCs since the device doesn’t need any external equipment to run. The goal of this paper is to develop a microbial fuel cell that does not require a syringe pump to function. This is done by layering chromatography paper with wax design printed onto it. This restricts the fluids to a specific flow path allowing it to act like the tubes in a typical microbial fuel cell device by delivering the fluids to the chamber. The fluids are picked up by tabs that sit in the fluid and use capillary attraction to flow up the tab and into the device. The fluids are directed to the chambers where the chemical and biological processes take place. These flows are then directed out of the device so that they are taken to a waste container and out of the system. Our microliter scale paper-based microbial fuel cell creates a significant current that is sustained for a period of time and can be repeated. A paper-based microbial fuel cell also has a fast response time. These results mean that it could be possible for a set of paper-based microbial fuel cells to create a power density capable of powering small, low power circuits when used in series or parallel. In this paper, we discuss the fabrication and experimental results of our paper-based microbial fuel cell. Also there will be a discussion of how paper-based microbial fuels cells compare to the traditional microbial fuel cells and how they could be used in the future.

scholarly journals A Review on Microbial Fuel Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1A) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Baidaa A. Kitafa ◽  
Afaf J. Obaid Al-saned
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Anaerobic Conditions ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Micro Organisms

The Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is a bioreactor with which the chemical energy in chemical bonds of organic compounds are converted to electricity under anaerobic conditions through catalytic reactions of micro-organisms. It has been familiar for a long time that electricity can be generated directly through using bacteria to break organic matter. A microbial fuel cell can also serve in different wastewater treatment to destroy organic matter. The development of MFC technology requires a greater understanding of the microbial processes  for MFCs, and their components, limitations, factors and design this system, to be simpler and large scale system developed; so that it would increase electricity production while being cost-effective. This review discusses, what is the MFCs and the basic principle of how MFC operate, the most essential MFC components and their relevance, multiple MFC designs that have been presented as efficient configurations, Applications of MFCs, and several types of wastewater as substrates in MFC also highlighted.

scholarly journals Lack of Electricity Production by Pelobacter carbinolicus Indicates that the Capacity for Fe(III) Oxide Reduction Does Not Necessarily Confer Electron Transfer Ability to Fuel Cell Anodes

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (16) ◽  
pp. 5347-5353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanno Richter ◽  
Martin Lanthier ◽  
Kelly P. Nevin ◽  
Derek R. Lovley
Keyword(s):  
Electron Transfer ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Electron Donors ◽  
Rrna Genes ◽  
Anode Surface ◽  
Oxide Reduction ◽  
Fuel Cell Anodes

ABSTRACT The ability of Pelobacter carbinolicus to oxidize electron donors with electron transfer to the anodes of microbial fuel cells was evaluated because microorganisms closely related to Pelobacter species are generally abundant on the anodes of microbial fuel cells harvesting electricity from aquatic sediments. P. carbinolicus could not produce current in a microbial fuel cell with electron donors which support Fe(III) oxide reduction by this organism. Current was produced using a coculture of P. carbinolicus and Geobacter sulfurreducens with ethanol as the fuel. Ethanol consumption was associated with the transitory accumulation of acetate and hydrogen. G. sulfurreducens alone could not metabolize ethanol, suggesting that P. carbinolicus grew in the fuel cell by converting ethanol to hydrogen and acetate, which G. sulfurreducens oxidized with electron transfer to the anode. Up to 83% of the electrons available in ethanol were recovered as electricity and in the metabolic intermediate acetate. Hydrogen consumption by G. sulfurreducens was important for ethanol metabolism by P. carbinolicus. Confocal microscopy and analysis of 16S rRNA genes revealed that half of the cells growing on the anode surface were P. carbinolicus, but there was a nearly equal number of planktonic cells of P. carbinolicus. In contrast, G. sulfurreducens was primarily attached to the anode. P. carbinolicus represents the first Fe(III) oxide-reducing microorganism found to be unable to produce current in a microbial fuel cell, providing the first suggestion that the mechanisms for extracellular electron transfer to Fe(III) oxides and fuel cell anodes may be different.

Reaping of Bio‐Energy from Waste Using Microbial Fuel Cell Technology

2022 ◽  
pp. 303-313
Author(s):  
Senthilkumar Kandasamy ◽  
Naveenkumar Manickam ◽  
Samraj Sadhappa
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Cell Technology ◽  
Fuel Cell Technology ◽  
Energy From Waste

scholarly journals Feasibility study of simultaneous azo dye decolorization and bioelectricity generation by microbial fuel cell-coupled constructed wetland: substrate effects

RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (27) ◽  
pp. 16542-16552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou Fang ◽  
Sichao Cheng ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Xian Cao ◽  
Xianning Li
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Constructed Wetlands ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Azo Dye ◽  
Dye Decolorization ◽  
Dye Wastewater ◽  
Substrate Effects ◽  
Bioelectricity Generation ◽  
Azo Dye Decolorization

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were embedded into constructed wetlands to form microbial fuel cell coupled constructed wetlands (CW-MFCs) and were used for simultaneous azo dye wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation.

scholarly journals A facile synthesis of molybdenum carbide nanoparticles-modified carbonized cotton textile as an anode material for high-performance microbial fuel cells

RSC Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (70) ◽  
pp. 40490-40497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizhen Zeng ◽  
Shaofei Zhao ◽  
Lixia Zhang ◽  
Miao He
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Porous Structure ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Anode Material ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Molybdenum Carbide ◽  
Cotton Textile ◽  
Facile Synthesis ◽  
Step Method

A novel macroscale porous structure electrode, molybdenum carbide nanoparticles-modified carbonized cotton textile (Mo2C/CCT), was synthesized by a facile two-step method and used as anode material for high-performance microbial fuel cell (MFC).

scholarly journals Comparative Study on the Effects of Three Membrane Modification Methods on the Performance of Microbial Fuel Cell

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Fan ◽  
Junyi Shi ◽  
Tian Gao
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Water Purification ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Generation Capacity ◽  
Exchange Membrane

Proton exchange membrane is an important factor affecting the power generation capacity and water purification effect of microbial fuel cells. The performance of microbial fuel cells can be improved by modifying the proton exchange membrane by some suitable method. Microbial fuel cells with membranes modified by SiO2/PVDF (polyvinylidene difluoride), sulfonated PVDF and polymerized MMA (methyl methacrylate) electrolyte were tested and their power generation capacity and water purification effect were compared. The experimental results show that the three membrane modification methods can improve the power generation capacity and water purification effect of microbial fuel cells to some extent. Among them, the microbial fuel cell with the polymerized MMA modified membrane showed the best performance, in which the output voltage was 39.52 mV, and the electricity production current density was 18.82 mA/m2, which was 2224% higher than that of microbial fuel cell with the conventional Nafion membrane; and the COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal rate was 54.8%, which was 72.9% higher than that of microbial fuel cell with the conventional Nafion membrane. Modifying the membrane with the polymerized MMA is a very effective way to improve the performance of microbial fuel cells.

scholarly journals Microbial Fuel Cells, Related Technologies, and Their Applications

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gene Drendel ◽  
Elizabeth R. Mathews ◽  
Lucie Semenec ◽  
Ashley E. Franks
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cell ◽  
Microbial Fuel Cells ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Engineering Material ◽  
Cell Systems ◽  
Material Sciences

Microbial fuel cells present an emerging technology for utilizing the metabolism of microbes to fuel processes including biofuel, energy production, and the bioremediation of environments. The application and design of microbial fuel cells are of interest to a range of disciplines including engineering, material sciences, and microbiology. In addition, these devices present numerous opportunities to improve sustainable practices in different settings, ranging from industrial to domestic. Current research is continuing to further our understanding of how the engineering, design, and microbial aspects of microbial fuel cell systems impact upon their function. As a result, researchers are continuing to expand the range of processes microbial fuel cells can be used for, as well as the efficiency of those applications.

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