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This paper compares real-time methods for maximizing power output in microbial fuel cells, including perturbation and observation, gradient, and multiunit methods, and discusses their advantages and limitations.

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What they did

System
MFC
Substrate
pure compound

What worked

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Abstract

Abstract Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) constitute a novel power generation technology that converts organic waste to electrical energy using microbially catalyzed electrochemical reactions. Since the power output of MFCs changes considerably with varying operating conditions, the online optimization of electrical load (i.e., external resistance) is extremely important for maintaining a stable MFC performance. The application of several real‐time optimization methods is presented, such as the perturbation and observation method, the gradient method, and the recently proposed multiunit method, for maximizing power output of MFCs by varying the external resistance. Experiments were carried out in two similar MFCs fed with acetate. Variations in substrate concentration and temperature were introduced to study the performance of each optimization method in the face of disturbances unknown to the algorithms. Experimental results were used to discuss advantages and limitations of each optimization method. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010

Key findings

  • The perturbation and observation method showed stable performance under varying operating conditions.
  • The gradient method was sensitive to disturbances in substrate concentration and temperature.
  • The multiunit method demonstrated robustness in the face of unknown disturbances.

Keywords

Microbial fuel cellPower (physics)Process engineeringFuel cellsElectricity generationControl theory (sociology)

Identifiers

DOI
10.1002/aic.12157
Journal
AIChE Journal
Year
2010