Development and optimization of microbial fuel cells

摘要

This work describes the effect of several parameters that affect the operation of a microbial fuel cell (MFC). It is based on a methodology employed in previous studies which use Escherichia coli as biocatalyst and neutral red as the electron mediator in what is called a mediated electron transfer (MET) microbial fuel cell. The influence of the bacterial concentration, the effective area of electrode and the volume of the cell was analyzed. Our results show a proportional energy production to the bacterial concentration present in the anode compartment. A maximum power density of 0.789 mu W.cm(-2) was measured with a MFC that contained electrodes of an effective area of 40 cm(2) with a bacterial concentration of 2.1 x 10(8) cfu mL(-1) in the anodic compartment. Normalized power proved that an increment on the effective area of electrode in our system does not result in a linear increase of the output power. It was demonstrated that an increase in the volume of the cell negatively affected the power produced by our cells.