MOJ Proteomics & Bioinformatics

Research Article Open Access

Bio-electricity generation from different biomass

using microbial fuel cell
Abstract Volume 3 Issue 5 - 2016

As Pakistan is facing serious problem of energy crises there is need to be identify

Anand Parkash
new technology and renewable energy source to fulfill the energy requirement. Due Department of Chemical Engineering, Mehran University of
to increased aberrance about environmental problems, biofuel production is echo Engineering & Technology, Pakistan
friendly. Microbial fuel cell is getting interest nowdays due to its application in
utilizing biomass and generate electricity from it .In this regard work is done on sewage Correspondence: Department of Chemical Engineering,
sludge taken from waste water treatment plant is taken as substrate for electricity Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro,
generation and comparing it with other biomass sources. Best possible results come Pakistan, Email [email protected]
from experiments at 2500 mV/L for sewage sludge and when compare it other sources
the yield is 270mV/L for carbo manure, 229mv/l for waste water 330mV/L for cow Received: May 01, 2016 | Published: June 21, 2016
manure. Sewage sludge contains organic compound higher percentage of glucose, due
to this will give the good results for power generation and environment.

Keywords: sewage sludge, organic compound, biomass, electricity generation,

microbial fuel cell

Abbreviations: MFC, microbial fuel cell; CE, coulombic digestion in cathode chamber and sludge pretreatments (sterilization
efficiency; TCOD, total chemical oxygen demand; DOM, dissolved and base pretreatment) prior to sludge addition to anode chamber,
organic matter respectively. During the stable stage, the voltage outputs and power
densities of MFC increased from 0.28-0.31V to 17.3-21.2mW/m2 to
Introduction 0.41-0.43V and 36.8-40.1mW/m2, respectively, when aerobic sludge
digestion occurred in the cathode chamber. When the sludge added
As world is going towards renewable energy sources, microbial to the anode chamber was sterilized or base pretreated, the voltage
fuel cell getting attention nowadays. In microbial fuel cell biomass outputs and power densities of MFC increased from 0.30-0.32V and
is utilize and give energy (electricity), and also a good option for 19.9-22.6mW/m2 (raw sludge) to 0.34-0.36V and 25.5-28.6mW/m2
treatment for waste water. Fuel recovery from sewage sludge is a (sterilized sludge), 0.41-0.43V and 37.1-40.8mW/m2 (base pretreated
promising energy production method, which can simultaneously sludge), respectively6 Single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cells
address energy issue and environmental concerns associated (MFCs) were used to generate electricity from fermented primary
with waste treatment.1 Microbial fuel cell (MFC) can be used as a sludge. Fermentation (30°C, 9days) decreased total suspended solids
pretreatment method to remove dissolved organic matter (DOM) (26.1-16.5g/L), volatile suspended solids (24.1-15.3g/L) and pH (5.7-
from polluted lake water and simultaneously generate electricity.2 In 4.5), and increased conductivity (2.4-4.7mS/cm), soluble COD (2.66-
Microbial fuel cell various factor is affecting on power generation 15.5g/L), and volatile fatty acids (1.9-10.1g/L). To lower the COD
effect of substrate concentration is very much important regarding and increase pH, fermentation supernatant was diluted with primary
anodic chamber and for power generation. If we utilize the higher effluent before being used in the MFCs. The maximum power density
percentage of substrate will effect on electricity generation, but both of was 0.32±0.01W/m2, compared to 0.24±0.03W/m2 with only primary
them would be inhibited at high substrate concentrations.3 Microbial effluent. Power densities were higher with phosphate buffer added to
fuel cells (MFCs) with biotic cathodes require expensive catalyst the supernatant (1.03±0.06W/m2) or the solution (0.87±0.05W/m2).7
(such as Pt) or Catholyte (such as hexacynoferrate) to facilitate The main purpose of this research work to generate electricity from
oxidation reactions. Study deals with the incorporated biocathodes sewage sludge and other biomass that are waste water, cow manure,
into a three-chamber MFC to yield electricity from sewage sludge at and carbo manure comparatively.
maximum power output of 13.2-1.7mW/m2 during polarization, much
higher than those previously reported. After 15d operation, the total Materials and methods
chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removal and Coulombic efficiency
(CE) of cell reached 40.8-9.0% and 19.4-4.3%, respectively.4 Two- Materials
chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) with potassium ferricyanide as
The whole work was done in Chemical Engineering Department
its electron acceptor was utilized to degrade excess sewage sludge
MUET Jamshoro. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is taken as biocatalyst
and to generate electricity. Stable electrical power was produced
in MFC for power generation and sewage sludge is taken from waste
continuously during operation for 250h. Total chemical oxygen
water treatment plant , amount of sewage sludge that were taken
demand (TCOD) of sludge was reduced by 46.4% when an initial
about 1L and other biomass also taken from different region of Sindh
TCOD was 10.850mg/l. The MFC power output did not significantly
province for analysis and treatment.
depend on process parameters such as substrate concentration,
cathode Catholyte concentration, and anodic pH.5 Batch tests were Microbial fuel cell construction
conducted to enhancing simultaneous electricity production and
reduction of sewage sludge in two-chamber MFC by aerobic sludge Microbial fuel cell that was used to carry out experimental work is

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© 2016 Parkash. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.
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Bio-electricity generation from different biomass using microbial fuel cell ©2016 Parkash 125

two chambers (Figure 1). One is anodic chamber in which an aerobic organic matter in the anode chamber (anaerobic conditions) producing
condition is used, that contain substrate and biocatalyst. Cathodic electrons and protons. Electrons transfer via the external circuit to
chamber containing salt water and aerobic condition is used.6 the cathode chamber where electrons, protons and electron acceptor
Electrodes are used to transfer the electrons and salt bridge is used to (mainly oxygen) combine to produce water.10
transfer the proton. Salt bridge made from agar and common salt Two
chamber is taken between them salt bridge is used to transfer proton
from cathodic chamber to anodic chamber.

Figure 2 Generation of Voltage vs time.

Effect of oxygen flow rate on voltage generation

Different flow rate of oxygen were studied to know about the
effect of oxygen flow rate on electricity generation from sewage
sludge comparison with other biomass In Figure 3, the maximum flow
rate of oxygen that were given high yield of electricity is 45ml/min.
Figure 1 Microbial fuel cell. Reason behind that when we increase oxygen flow rate there will be
increase in power generation due to acceptance of proton from anodic
Operational conditions chamber and decrease in oxygen flow rate will decrease in acceptance
Sewage sludge that are used taken from waste water treatment of electron.
plant, because we know the composition of sludge that are produced
from treatment of waste water. Pure starin of saccharomyces servisae
is used to carry out the process. Air is used in cathodic chamber to
oxidize the proton coming from anode chamber. Salt bridge is used
to transfer the proton from anode chamber to cathodic chamber and
external circuit is used for transfer of electrons coming from anode
chamber.

Analysis
In MFC different parameter were analyzed during experimental
work on it.
pH: pH were analysed using pH meter to set the desired condition
for microbial growth, because if the pH increases above the 8.5 and Figure 3 Generation of voltage vs oxygen flow rate.
below the 6 there will be effect on microbial growth in MFC.
Effect of pH value on voltage generation
Oxygen flow rate: Oxygen flow rate were analysed with the help
of flow meter to know about the oxygen enter in the MFC cathodic Voltage generation from sewage sludge using MFC had effected
chamber, because we make cathodic chamber aerobic condition. from pH value. Different pH value were used to identify the effect of
pH on voltage generation. The maximum yield of voltage 2500mV
Voltage generated: Current was analysed by using millimeter, were obtained at the pH of 8.5 (Figure 4). The effect of pH on voltage
different concentration and pH were used to saw the behavior of the generation due to variation ionic form of active site. If there is decrease
system, at what concentration and pH had maximum output of power in pH value there will be decrease the activity of cellulosic nature of
generation. Voltage was continuously measured by a multimeter with biomass so that’s why pH below 7 must be tolerated.
a data acquisition system. Current (I) was calculated from the voltage
(V) by I=V/Re, where Re is the external resistance. Power (P) was Effect of concentration of sample on voltage generation
calculated as P=IV.8 Concentration of substrate has effect on power generation due
to variation in organic matter present in biomass. As we know that
Results and discussion organic matter present in sewage sludge mainly glucose, when we
Electricity generation from different biomass decrease the percentage of substrate there will be change in voltage
output from MFC. Concentration has also effect the microbial activity
After 24h operation current of cell shown on multimeter after of microbial fuel cell. Effect of concentrations given in Figure 5.
few hours’ time period maximum electricity generation observed
(2500mV/L) (Figure 2) and after few minutes there is decline in Comparison of Power Output from the Sewage Sludge
power output, because cell growth decreases their efficiency. After the and from other Biomass
MFC treatment, the total organic carbon concentrations9 in sewage
sludge utilize to produce electricity. In MFC, microorganisms oxidize Different biomass was studied to identify the suitable biomass for
power generation. Fuel recovery from sewage sludge is a promising

Citation: Parkash A. Bio-electricity generation from different biomass using microbial fuel cell. MOJ Proteomics Bioinform. 2016;3(5):124‒127.
DOI: 10.15406/mojpb.2016.03.00098
 Copyright:
Bio-electricity generation from different biomass using microbial fuel cell ©2016 Parkash 126

energy production method, which can simultaneously address energy Conclusion

issue and environmental concerns associated with waste treatment.11
So as for sewage sludge was concerned maximum yield of power Sewage has potential for power generation using MFC over other
generation obtained. Pre-treatment has shown significant improvement biomass resources.
in MFC electricity productivity.12 Activated sludge and algae biomass i. The maximum electricity generation from sewage sludge is
are used as substrates in microbial fuel cell (MFC) to produce 2500mV/L.
electricity. And also13 cattle dung as a substrate.14 As for other biomass
was concerned gave the lesser power output due to the organic matter ii. Other biomass sources maximum output are Carbo Manure
or we can say that lower in glucose concentration. Different types (270mV/L)
of biomass that were under study are cow manure, carbo manure, iii. Cow Manure(229mV/L) and
waste water and sewage sludge. The maximum power generation was
obtained 2500 mV/L using Sewage sludge as a biomass source and for iv. Waste Water (330mV/L).
other biomass concerned maximum power generation obtained from
v. We can treat waste water by using Microbial fuel cell
carbo manure, cow manure and waste water 270mV/L, 229mV/L
and 330mV/L respectively (Figure 6). The voltage output from waste vi. We can reduce waste from environment
water about to be 203mV/L15 it means that voltage generated from
sewage sludge was maximum. vii. The electricity generation from sewage is higher due to contain
higher percentage of organic matter

Future recommendations
If we use this technology we reduce the environmental problem
regarding waste water or reduce waste. We will fulfill energy
requirement regarding to overcome energy crises by using Microbial
Fuel cell. We can commercialize it to fulfill the energy requirement.

Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to Chemical Engineering Department for
providing facility for doing whole experimental work.

Conflict of interest
Figure 4 Generation of voltage generation vs pH.
The author declares no conflict of interest.

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Citation: Parkash A. Bio-electricity generation from different biomass using microbial fuel cell. MOJ Proteomics Bioinform. 2016;3(5):124‒127.
DOI: 10.15406/mojpb.2016.03.00098
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Citation: Parkash A. Bio-electricity generation from different biomass using microbial fuel cell. MOJ Proteomics Bioinform. 2016;3(5):124‒127.
DOI: 10.15406/mojpb.2016.03.00098