Effects of design and operating parameters on performance of microbial fuel cell: Experimental study

Application of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) provides a new method to wastewater treatment with production of sustainable clean energy. Microbial fuel cells harvest the catabolic energy of microbial colonies. The aim of this work was to study the effect of temperature, flow-rate and interface geometry on the performance of a continuous MFC. To investigate these effects, the studied temperatures were 22°C, 30°C and 37°C and 0.5, 1, 2.5 and 3.5 ml/min for the flow-rate. Three different geometry of the interface were tested as well. The tests showed that higher power production was obtained at 37°C and flow-rate of 0.5 ml/min. The interface geometry presented significant effect on the power generation. Organic matter removals (80% of influent BOD) were directly influenced by the studied parameters followed the same behavior as the power generation. At the flow-rate higher than optimal one, anodic bacteria were affected and power generation ceased because of reduced Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT).

کلیدواژه ها:

microbial fuel cell ، flow -rate ، wastewater ، temperature ، biochemical oxygen demand