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This paper assesses the performance of multi-electrodes reactors for scaling up microbial fuel cells, using 3D printed reactors with multiple fiber brush anodes and a single air-cathode.

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What they did

System
MFC

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Abstract

The microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent an emerging technology for converting directly organic waste into electricity. In recent years, the application of MFCs to the energy recovery from wastes has been widely explored. The main aspect that limits the development and implementation of this technology on a larger-scale is the possibility of realizing its scaling-up. In order to overcome this critical factor, it is useful to analyze novel MFCs configurations based on compact reactors with multiple electrodes.In this paper, single chamber MFCs provided with multiple fiber brush anodes and a single air-cathode were designed and realized by using a 3D printer. The reactors had a cubic shape, with a cylindrical chamber of 350 mL in volume. The mineral medium added with sodium acetate (0.25 M), as sole source of carbon and energy to sustain exoelectrogenic bacteria metabolism, were used. Anodes biofilms were prepared from a mix of compost and sodium acetate dissolved in phosphate buffer solution (0.2M), in a 1:3 ratio. The performances of two MFCs provided with two and three anodes were assessed in terms of voltage, current density and power density. These performances were compared to those of a smaller cubic MFC (30mL).

Key findings

  • The use of multiple anodes in MFCs increases power density compared to single anode MFCs.
  • The addition of sodium acetate as a sole source of carbon and energy sustains exoelectrogenic bacteria metabolism.
  • The performance of MFCs with 2 and 3 anodes shows a significant increase in voltage, current density, and power density compared to single anode MFCs.

Keywords

Microbial fuel cellAnodeCathodePower densitySodium acetateElectrode

Identifiers

DOI
10.1051/e3sconf/202019708020
Journal
E3S Web of Conferences
Year
2019