Long-term bio-power of ceramic microbial fuel cells in individual and stacked configurations
Long-term bio-power of ceramic microbial fuel cells in individual and stacked configurations
In order to improve the potential of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) as an applicable technology, the main challenge is to engineer practical systems for bioenergy production at larger scales and to test how the prototypes withstand the challenges occurring during the prolonged operation under constant feeding regime with real waste stream. This work presents the performance assessment of low-cost ceramic MFCs in the individual, stacked (modular) and modular cascade (3 modules) configurations during long term operation up to 19 months, utilising neat human urine as feedstock. During 1 year, the performance of the individual MFC units reached up to 1.56 mW (22.3 W/m3), exhibiting only 20% power loss on day 350 which was significantly smaller in comparison to conventional proton or cation exchange membranes. The stack module comprising 22 MFCs reached up to 21.4 mW (11.9 W/m3) showing power recovery to the initial output levels after 580 days, whereas the 3-module cascade reached up to 75 mW (13.9 W/m3) of power, showing 20% power loss on day 446. In terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, the 3-module cascade configuration achieved a cumulative reduction of >92%, which is higher than that observed in the single module (56%).
Ceramic, Long-term operation, Microbial fuel cell, Stacking, Urine
Gajda, Iwona
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Obata, Oluwatosin
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Jose Salar-Garcia, Maria
1a342bfd-1231-4c7e-90f3-3f50788e2d17
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
June 2020
Gajda, Iwona
943dd6bd-524b-4c7b-b794-dec5ee8014b7
Obata, Oluwatosin
a4215b3c-fcf2-4894-b1a7-f82707a0632b
Jose Salar-Garcia, Maria
1a342bfd-1231-4c7e-90f3-3f50788e2d17
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Gajda, Iwona, Obata, Oluwatosin, Jose Salar-Garcia, Maria, Greenman, John and Ieropoulos, Ioannis A.
(2020)
Long-term bio-power of ceramic microbial fuel cells in individual and stacked configurations.
Bioelectrochemistry, 133, [107459].
(doi:10.1016/j.bioelechem.2020.107459).
Abstract
In order to improve the potential of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) as an applicable technology, the main challenge is to engineer practical systems for bioenergy production at larger scales and to test how the prototypes withstand the challenges occurring during the prolonged operation under constant feeding regime with real waste stream. This work presents the performance assessment of low-cost ceramic MFCs in the individual, stacked (modular) and modular cascade (3 modules) configurations during long term operation up to 19 months, utilising neat human urine as feedstock. During 1 year, the performance of the individual MFC units reached up to 1.56 mW (22.3 W/m3), exhibiting only 20% power loss on day 350 which was significantly smaller in comparison to conventional proton or cation exchange membranes. The stack module comprising 22 MFCs reached up to 21.4 mW (11.9 W/m3) showing power recovery to the initial output levels after 580 days, whereas the 3-module cascade reached up to 75 mW (13.9 W/m3) of power, showing 20% power loss on day 446. In terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, the 3-module cascade configuration achieved a cumulative reduction of >92%, which is higher than that observed in the single module (56%).
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Published date: June 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, grant no. OPP1094890 and OPP1149065. M.J. Salar Garcia thanks Fundacion Seneca for its support (Ref. 20372/PD/17). The authors would like to thank Mr Patrick Brinson for the electronic circuitry allowing the MFC module to be kept under Constant Voltage Load.
Funding Information:
This work has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , grant no. OPP1094890 and OPP1149065 . M.J. Salar Garcia thanks Fundacion Seneca for its support (Ref. 20372/PD/17 ). The authors would like to thank Mr Patrick Brinson for the electronic circuitry allowing the MFC module to be kept under Constant Voltage Load.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Ceramic, Long-term operation, Microbial fuel cell, Stacking, Urine
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454010
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454010
ISSN: 1567-5394
PURE UUID: 929adfc6-18d4-4782-98b9-09ecc9074409
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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2022 18:12
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:04
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Author:
Iwona Gajda
Author:
Oluwatosin Obata
Author:
Maria Jose Salar-Garcia
Author:
John Greenman
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