Power generation from furfural using the ferricyanide-cathode MFC

摘要

Furfural is a typical inhibitor in the ethanol fermentation process using lignocellulosic hydrolysates as raw materials.In the literature,no report has shown that furfural can be utilized as the fuel to produce electricity in the microbial fuel cell (MFC).In this study,we demonstrated that electricity was successfully generated using furfural as the sole fuel in the ferricyanide-cathode MFC. The maximum power densities reached 45.4,81.4,and 103 W m~(-3),respectively,when 1000 mg L~(-1) glucose,a mixture of 200 mg L~(-1) glucose and 5 mM furfural,and 6.68 mM furfural were used as the fuels in the anode solution. These results indicated that some toxic and biorefractory organics such as furfural may still be suitable resources for electricity generation using the MFC technology.