Multi-electrode microbial fuel cells and fuel cell systems and bioreactors with dynamically configurable fluidics

摘要

Microbial fuel cells including multiple electrodes, and systems of such fuel cells, are provided. An exemplary fuel cell includes a population of exoelectrogenic microbes and at least two anodes in an anode chamber, and a cathode in a cathode chamber. A path exists between the chambers for conducting hydrogen ions and each anode is connected to the cathode by a separate external circuit. Electrical output from the fuel cell is maximized by optimizing the microbe population, achieved by dynamically controlling the sub-populations at each of the multiple anodes. Systems comprising multiple such fuel cells connected by a dynamically reconfigurable fluidics system provide further optimization.