Scribd
Upload
34 views4 pages

Review

Microbial fuel cells and bioelectrochemical systems combine biological redox catalysis with electrochemical reactions, introducing complexity. The main differences from conventional fuel cells are that the electrocatalyst in microbial fuel cells is bacteria or proteins, they operate at temperatures of 15-45°C, and have moderate environmental impact. However, a challenge is their low power production, orders of magnitude lower than chemical fuel cells. Recent research has investigated coupling microbial fuel cells with capacitors or supercapacitors to help manage the low power as well as using their electrodes as internal supercapacitors. Studies have also shown microbial fuel cells can successfully generate power while degrading pollutants from wastewater.

Uploaded by

coding727tree
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
34 views4 pages

Review

Microbial fuel cells and bioelectrochemical systems combine biological redox catalysis with electrochemical reactions, introducing complexity. The main differences from conventional fuel cells are that the electrocatalyst in microbial fuel cells is bacteria or proteins, they operate at temperatures of 15-45°C, and have moderate environmental impact. However, a challenge is their low power production, orders of magnitude lower than chemical fuel cells. Recent research has investigated coupling microbial fuel cells with capacitors or supercapacitors to help manage the low power as well as using their electrodes as internal supercapacitors. Studies have also shown microbial fuel cells can successfully generate power while degrading pollutants from wastewater.

Uploaded by

coding727tree
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

REVIEW

Microbial Fuel Cells and more recently extended into various Bio-
Electrochemical Systems are an interesting and constantly expanding field of
science and technology that combines biological catalytic redox activity with
classic abiotic electrochemical reactions.
The addition of biological organisms responsible for catalyzing electrochemical
reactions, gives these systems a level of complexity that is perhaps above that
of already complex electrochemical system.

The main differences of MFCs with the conventional low temperature fuel cells
are:-

i.) The electrocatalyst is biotic (electroactive bacteria or proteins) at the anode.

ii.) The temperature can range between 15 °C and 45 °C, with close to ambient
levels as optimum.

iii.) A promising moderate environmental impact assessed through life cycle


analysis.

A further challenge is related with the low energy produced by MFCs, which is
currently orders of magnitude lower compared to that of chemical fuel cells.
The harvesting and management of the low power generated by MFCs has
given rise to new hybrid systems that partially address this problem by
coupling MFCs with external off-the-shelf harvesting systems based mainly on
supercapacitors, with a number of applications reported. Recently, capacitive
features of the electrodes have been investigated and supercapacitive
electrodes have also been used as internal supercapacitors and the properties
of those materials have been studied .

Finally, several organic compounds coming from different municipal and


industrial types of wastewater have been successfully investigated showing
the feasibility of BES in generating power and simultaneously degrading
pollutants, thus becoming an alternative technology for cleaning water with
zero or positive energy budget.

REFERENCE
1. Logan B.E., Aelterman P., Hamelers B., Rozendal R., Schröeder U., Keller J.,
Freguia S., Verstraete W., Rabaey K. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006;40:5181–5192.
[PubMed] [Google Scholar]
2. Rinaldi A., Mecheri B., Garavaglia V., Licoccia S., Di Nardo P., Traversa E.
Energy Environ. Sci. 2008;1:417–429.

3. Borole A.P., Reguera G., Ringeisen B., Wang Z.-W., Feng Y., Hong Kim B.
Energy Environ. Sci. 2011;4:4813–4834.

4. Schroeder U., Harnisch F. Springer; New York: 2014. Biofilms, Electroactive.


Encyclopedia of Applied Electrochemistry; pp. 120–126.

5. Pandey P., Shinde V.N., Deopurkar R.L., Kale S.P., Patil S.A., Pant D. Appl.
Energy. 2016;168:706–723.

6. Pant D., Singh A., Van Bogaert G., Alvarez Gallego Y., Diels L.,
Vanbroekhoven K. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2011;15:1305–1313.

7. Karube I., Matasunga T., Suzuki S., Tsuru S. Biochim. Biophys. Acta.
1976;24:338–343.

8. Kadier A., Simayi Y., Abdeshahian Peyman, Farhana Azman N.,


Chandrasekhar K., Sahaid Kalil M. Alex. Eng. J. 2016;55:427–443.

9. Marshall C.W., Ross D.E., Fichot E.B., Norman R.S., May H.D. Environ. Sci.
Technol. 2013;47:6023–6029.

10. Cao X., Huang X., Liang P., Xiao K., Zhou Y., Zhang X., Logan B.E. Environ.
Sci. Technol. 2009;43:7148–7152.

You might also like