Performance assessment of stacked air-cathode microbial fuel cells under series and parallel electrical connections
Simona Di Micco, Pasquale De Falco, Mariagiovanna Minutillo, Antonio Bracale +3
AI summary
70% confidenceThe paper investigates the performance of stacked air-cathode microbial fuel cells under different electrical connections, aiming to increase output voltage and power.
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Representative stacked MFC — matched on the paper’s reported configuration, not its exact geometry.
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Open in lab →What they did
- System
- MFC
- Inoculum
- mixed culture
What worked
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Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are playing an important role in the context of sustainable energy development. They represent a sustainable approach to harvest electricity from biodegradable materials. However, harvesting energy from MFCs represents a critical issue because of the low output voltage and power produced. Realizing stacked configurations may involve an increase in MFCs performances in terms of output voltage, current and electric power. In this paper, two stacked configurations under different electrical connection modes have been designed, developed, modeled and tested. The stacked MFCs consist of 4 reactors (28 mL x4) that are connected in series, and parallel-series modes. Three different tests have been carried out, which involves: 1) performing the polarization and power curves by applying decreasing resistances; 2) assessment of the electric behavior of each reactor over time at a fixed resistance, 3) performing the polarization and power curves by applying increasing resistances. Moreover, a numerical model for predicting the transient behavior of the electrical quantities for one reactor, has been developed and validated by using the experimental data. As expected, the results highlighted that the parallel-series configuration assures the highest volumetric power density compared to the series configuration, reaching the maximum value of 1248.5 mW/m 3 (139.8 µW) at 0.291 mA. Eventually, by comparing the numerical and the experimental data, it has been demonstrated that the developed model is able to predict the reactor’s electrical trend with a good accuracy.
Key findings
- Series connection of 4 reactors (28 mL x4) increases output voltage and power compared to single reactor.
- Parallel-series connection of 4 reactors (28 mL x4) shows improved performance in terms of output voltage and power compared to series connection.
- A numerical model for predicting transient behavior of electrical quantities is developed and validated.
Keywords
Identifiers
- Journal
- E3S Web of Conferences
- Year
- 2021