Development of a functional stack of soil microbial fuel cells to power a water treatment reactor: From the lab to field trials in North East Brazil

Dziegielowski, Jakub; Metcalfe, Benjamin; Villegas-Guzmán, Paola; Martínez‐Huitle, Carlos A.; Gorayeb, Adryane; Wenk, Jannis; Lorenzo, Mirella Di

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115680

Cited by 41 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Recently, the concept was successfully applied to soil MFCs using a voltage booster to charge a battery stack which was then discharged through a second booster and a constant current source. The result was a power increase of 1.9 times per added soil MFC [25]. In the present study, in which a dual storage system was used for each MFC/discharge system in our BERS system, we obtained a similar multiplication factor (1.7 per added soil MFC), which had the benefit of using a dual stage energy storage approach that avoided any peaks in our current outputs without using any secondary current conditioner unit.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 53%

Bacteria Energy Recovery System Using Natural Soil Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells

et al. 2021

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This paper describes a two-cycle bacteria energy recovery system (BERS) to power two embedded sensors: an ultra-low portable pH sensor and a sound sensor. The designed unit can handle up to seven microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to charge a super-capacitor. This allows the BERS to provide a constant 0.14 mW without further electrical components for signal conditioning. The two cycles were driven with a 100 kΩ load and a 10 Hz frequency. The BERS is also self-powered with an integrated start-up unit to be self-activated when the MFCs charge the energy-storing unit after three days. The BERS powered pH sensor has an error below 5% at 25 ∘C and is able to work continuously while being activated for 4 h. The performances of the pH and sound sensors were determined based on a compromise between accuracy and power consumption.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 53%

Bacteria Energy Recovery System Using Natural Soil Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells

et al. 2021

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“…Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices in which anodic microorganisms oxidize organic matter and produce electric current as a byproduct of their metabolism. The most typically investigated applications are water and wastewater treatments [1][2][3][4]. Nevertheless, MFCs and other types of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) have been applied in biosensors [5,6], nutrient and metal recovery [7][8][9], remediation technology [10,11], the biosynthesis of organic compounds [12,13], biogas production [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-throughput 96-well bioelectrochemical platform for screening of electroactive microbial consortia

Szydlowski

Ehlich

Goryanin

et al. 2022

Chemical Engineering Journal

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The development of bioelectrochemical systems reinforces the necessity for the identification and engineering of electroactive bacteria with improved performance and novel biochemical properties. In this study, using a newly designed 96-well-plate array of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), we compared the electroactive capabilities of microbial communities derived from four mine drainages. The maximum power density of individual wells after two weeks of inoculation was 102 mW/m 3 , whereas the maximum current density was 1.6 A/m 3 . Transferring communities from individual wells into larger MFCs comprising low (20 mg/L) and high (200 mg/L) concentrations of Cu yielded maximum power densities of 445 and 58 mW/m 3 , respectively, with up to a 3.7 fold decrease in Cu 2+ ions within 24 h. Electrochemical data analysis revealed that microbial consortia can be distinguished based on their electrochemical profiles. Our results showed that a 96-well MFC array is a suitable platform for high-throughput screening, selection, and subsequent source of enriched electroactive consortia. The quantitative and comparative analysis followed by principal component analysis indicated that the initial environmental conditions, as well as physical and chemical parameters of the lakes were crucial to develop an efficient electroactive community. Further applications of the proposed platform include genetic engineering, phenotype screening, and mutagenesis studies of both microbial communities and single cultures. This is the first time that a high-throughput MFC platform is used to evaluate the performance of multiple electroactive consortia towards Cu removal.

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“…1-2. Considering that the power can be linearly scaled up by stacking the electrodes together [10], one can compare the cost per Watt with the amount of wire used in a single electrode (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Cost Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, due to the relatively low power obtained from SMFCs, cost remains a hinderance in commercialising the technology. Our previous work, on a flat plate SMFC design [10], revealed that the cost of a single SMFC device is approximately £2. Titanium wire, used as the current collector (CC), was identified as responsible for up 50% of the total price.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards cost-effective soil microbial fuel cell designs

Dziegielowski

Lorenzo

2022

E3S Web Conf.

Self Cite

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Soil microbial fuel cell (SMFC) is a carbon-neutral energy harvesting technology that exploits the use of electroactive bacteria naturally present in soil to directly generate electricity from organic compounds. Given the simplicity of the system design, SMFCs have great potential to be used for decentralised solutions, especially in areas where access to conventional energy sources is limited. Yet, the high cost to power ratio severely limits the translation of this technology into the market. With the aim of reducing the capital cost, in this study we explore the effect of decreasing the amounts of current collector (CC) on the performance. The results demonstrate that increasing the amount of current collector per surface area of the electrode is not a feasible way of enhancing power densities, as to increase the performance by 20% and 35%, the amount of current collector would have to be increased by 150% and 300%, respectively. This highlights the importance of economic evaluations when optimising the design of a SMFC.

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Development of a functional stack of soil microbial fuel cells to power a water treatment reactor: From the lab to field trials in North East Brazil

Cited by 41 publications

References 44 publications

Bacteria Energy Recovery System Using Natural Soil Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells

Bacteria Energy Recovery System Using Natural Soil Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells

High-throughput 96-well bioelectrochemical platform for screening of electroactive microbial consortia

Towards cost-effective soil microbial fuel cell designs

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