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Procedia CIRP 26 (2015) 162 166

12th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing

Performance comparison of three common proton exchange membranes

for sustainable bioenergy production in microbial fuel cell

Mostafa Ghasemi a,*, Elnaz Halakoo b, Mehdi Sedighi c, Javed Alamd, Majid Sadeqzadehe
a
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
b
Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Technology Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Malaysia
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
d
King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
e
Unit de Catalyse et de Chimie du Solide,UMR 8181 CNRS, Universit Lille 1-ENSCL-EC-Lille, Villeneuve dAscq, France

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 3 89118588; fax+60 3 8911-8530 E-mail [email protected], [email protected] (Mostafa Ghasemi)

Abstract

Proton exchange membranes (PEMs) have essential role in the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). They act as a separator and
separate anode and cathode compartments and they also transfer protons between anode and cathode. In this study three types of PEMs (Nafion
112, SPEEK and Nafion 117) have been applied to MFC and the amount of produced bioenergy with the feed of a wastewater in 5000 m/l
chemical oxygen demand (COD) have been reported. It has been observed that the MFC working with Nafion 117 as separator produced the
highest power among the other MFCs. Also It was found that the produced power was 179.7 mW/m2 for Nafion 117 while it was 126.1 for
SPEEK and 19.7 for Nafion 112. Moreover it has been concluded that the low power production of Nafion 112 was due to the diffusion of
oxygen from the cathode chamber to the anode chamber that disturb the microorganisms metabolism for degradation of organic compounds.
Generally we have found a new economic PEM for using in MFCs.

2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier

2015 Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of Assembly Technology and Factory Management/Technische Universitt Berlin.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Assembly Technology and Factory Management/Technische Universitt Berlin.
Keywords: Membrane; Wastewater, COD, Power generation, Microbial fuel cell

1. Introduction greenhouse gases annually [2]. Water and wastewater

treatment and distribution in the United States is estimated
Amid growing competition for freshwater from industry to consume 50,000 GWh, representing 1.4 percent of the
and cities, coupled with a rising world shortage of potash, total national electricity consumption. Further, drinking
nitrogen and phosphorus, an international study predicts a water and wastewater plants are typically the largest energy
rapid increase in the use of treated wastewater for farming consumers of municipal governments, accounting for 30-40
and other purposes worldwide in the other side percent of total energy consumed. In the other side the
conventional sewage and wastewater treatments require depletion of natural energy sources is an inevitable cause
high amount of energy [1]. Drinking water and wastewater for concern in the modern world. Because fossil fuels can
systems account for approximately 3-4 percent of energy pollute the air and are exhaustible, there arose a need for
use in the United States, adding over 45 million tons of renewable sources of energy that are not only cleaner but

2212-8271 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Assembly Technology and Factory Management/Technische Universitt Berlin.
doi:10.1016/j.procir.2014.07.169
 Mostafa Ghasemi et al. / Procedia CIRP 26 (2015) 162 166 163

also more durable and also the major piece of the world's 2. Materials and methods:
energy problem which is mostly by fossil fuel is high price.
Prices continue to be far above from the hands of small 2.1. Synthesis of SPEEK
industries[3].
For the preparation of solfunated poly ether ether ketone
Moreover, interests to find out renewable, sustainable and (SPEEK), 20g of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) powder
clean energy source with minimum or zero environmental (Goodfellow Cambridge Limited, UK) was dissolved slowly
pollution has been increased [4].One of the emerging source in 500mL of 95-98% concentrated sulphuric acid (R & M
of renewable energy is fuel cell. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) Chemicals, Essex, UK).
is a type of fuel cell which converts the biochemical energy
stored in organic matter by the aid of microorganism as This solution was stirred vigorously until the entire PEEK was
biocatalysts [5-6]. It means that the chemical oxygen dissolved completely. Next, the homogenous solution was
demand (COD) of wastewater decreased while producing continuously and thoroughly stirred at a controlled
electricity. The limitations of wide spread application of temperature of 80oC for 4 to get the SPEEK with acceptable
MFC as an alternative source of energy is low power output degree of sulfonation. The SPEEK solution was poured into a
and high cost of operation for commercial applications. large excess of ice water to precipitate the SPEEK polymer.
Power generation of MFC depends on many factors The solid was then collected by filtering the solution through
including type of membrane, catalyst, substrate, a Whatman filter paper. Finally, the SPEEK was dried at 70oC
configuration, temperature etc [7]. to remove any remaining water before use [9].

Among these factors, the membrane of an MFC has been

deemed the most important part of the whole system, as it is 2.2 Determination of DS
the membrane that separates the cathode from the anode.
The membrane must support the transfer of protons from The degree of sulphonation (DS) was measured by 1H
the anode to the cathode but prevent the transfer of other Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR ADVANCE 111 600
materials like oxygen and substrates. As if the oxygen MHz with Cryoprobe) spectroscopic analysis (Bruker,
penetrates to the anode part make the process in the anode Karlsruhe, Germany). Before taking the measurement, the
aerobic and the power density and wastewater treatment SPEEK was dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO-d6).
efficiency will come down. Also penetration of media to the The DS can be calculated by the following equation,
cathode cause the decline of power out and also it effects on
the microorganisms efficiency for COD removal [8]. DS A
1 (0 DS 1) (1)
S 2 DS A2
Nomenclature
Where S is the total number of hydrogen atoms in the repeat
DS Degree of sulfonation unit of the polymer before sulphonation, which is 12 for
Pt Platinum PEEK, A1 (H13) is the peak area of the distinct signal, and A2
COD Chemical Oxygen Demand is the integrated peak area of the signals corresponding to all
MFC Microbial Fuel Cell other aromatic hydrogens. To calculate the DS percentage
(DS %), the answer for the DS has to be multiplied by 100
[10].

3. Results and Discussion

The schematic of a MFC was shown in the Fig.1. The

figure clearly illustrated that MFC composed of two
chambers.
164 Mostafa Ghasemi et al. / Procedia CIRP 26 (2015) 162 166

The FTIR(Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy )

analysis of PEEK and SPEEK was shown in the

Fig.3. as can be seen in the figure, the main difference of

Fig.1. Schematic of a MFC FTIR of PEEK and SPEEK is the broad band of about 3460

In one chamber there is microorganisms that produce cm-1 which shows the O-H vibration of sulfonic group. Due
electrons and protons and in the cathode chamber the
reduction process will be happen and MFC produce to new substitution upon sulfonation the aromatic C-C
electricity.

bands can be observed for the PEEK at 1489 cm-1. The

The attachment of microorganisms on electrode surface was

shown in Fig.2.

.
Fig.3. FTIR of the PEEK and SPEEK

To measure the degree of sulfonation NMR has been used.

Also, NMR analysis of the SPEEK is shown in Fig.4. The
SPEEK has been prepared in the moderate range , as the DS
cannot be controlled exactly and also our previous studies has
shown that low or high range of DS sometimes shown
Fig.2. Attachment of microorganisms on electrode surface unexpected behaviour that could not be predicted [11]. So the
DS has been calculated by the formula 1 and which has been
sown as above and it was 60%. so this PEM was used with
two Nafion membranes (Nafion 112 and Nafion 117) to
As the figure shows the microorganisms very well attached observe the effect of PEMs in the efficiency of MFCs in
on tle electrode surface. They act as biocatalyst in MFC and wastewater treatment and electricity generation.
convert the organic substrates to electrons and protons. Also
they cause some obstacles in MFCs such as biofouling and so
on which should be prevented.
 Mostafa Ghasemi et al. / Procedia CIRP 26 (2015) 162 166 165

4. conclusion

Three common proton exchange membranes were tested in

MFC with different COD artificial wastewater to see the
effect of them in power production and wastewater treatment.
The results have shown that still Nafion 117 has the highest
performance however it has also the highest price and so its
not economical. The SPEEK had acceptable performance
while it was lower power output and CE than Nafion 117. It
was shown in the COD, of 5000 mg/l. MFC is a good device
for wastewater treatment however the amount of produced
energy still is very low. Another finding of the paper is that
the difference of SPEEK and Nafion 117 is going to be
decreased at higher COD and its a great finding for
replacement of other PEM as alternative for Nafion 117 and
makes the process more viable. Our next purpose is to
simulate it and test in different COD to conclude better.

Fig.4. NMR of the SPEEK

Acknowledgement

The authors would like express their appreciation for the

financial support given for this research by the Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) under research grants DLP-
2014-002, GGPM-2013-027.

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