• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.1114-1118
• /
• 2015

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have gathered attention as a novel bioenergy technology to simultaneously treat wastewater with less sludge production than the conventional activated sludge system. In two different operations of the MFC and aerobic process, microbial growth was determined by the protein assay method and their biomass yields using real wastewater were compared. The biomass yield on the anode electrode of the MFC was 0.02 g-COD-cell/gCOD-substrate and the anolyte planktonic biomass was 0.14 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate. An MFC without anode electrode resulted in the biomass yield of 0.07 ± 0.03 g-COD-cell/g-CODsubstrate, suggesting that oxygen diffusion from the cathode possibly supported the microbial growth. In a comparative test, the biomass yield under aerobic environment was 0.46 ± 0.07 g-COD-cell/g-COD-substrate, which was about 3 times higher than the total biomass value in the MFC operation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.122-125
• /
• 2022

The cellulose-fed microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a biotechnological process that directly converts lignocellulosic materials to electricity without combustion. In this study, the cellulose-fed, MFC-integrated thermophilic bacterium, Bacillus sp. WK21, with endoglucanase and exoglucanase activities of 1.25 ± 0.08 U/ml and 0.95 ± 0.02 U/ml, respectively, was used to generate electricity at high temperatures. Maximal current densities of 485, 420, and 472 mA/m² were achieved when carboxymethyl cellulose, avicel cellulose, and cellulose powder, respectively, were used as substrates. Their respective maximal power was 94.09, 70.56, and 89.30 mW/m³. This study demonstrates the value of the novel use of a cellulase-producing thermophilic bacterium as a biocatalyst for electricity generation in a cellulose-fed MFC.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.23 no.12
• /
• pp.169-175
• /
• 2009

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device to produce a electricity from the oxidation of organic materials using microorganism. Recently many researchers have been studying MFC which is focused as regeneration energy source. Previews studies have focused every each factor that influence the production of electric power. However they didn't study a lot about the correlation among the factors. In order to improve the MFC, we analysed the factors which influencing the generation of electric power of MFC. Also, we made a new compartment to verify the correlations among the factors efficiently. Based on the result obtained from the experiments in the laboratory, we analysed the factors and we suggested a new concept of waste water treatment system to produce electrical energy during the treatment of waste water.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.283-294
• /
• 2020

This work aims at studying the feasibility of continuous removal of mixed heavy metal ions from simulated zinc plating wastewaters by coupling a microbial fuel cell and a microbial electrolysis cell in batch and continuous modes. The discharging voltage of MFC increased initially from 0.4621 ± 0.0005 V to 0.4864 ± 0.0006 V as the initial concentration of Cr⁶⁺ increased from 10 ppm to 60 ppm. Almost complete removal of Cr⁶⁺ and low removal of Cu²⁺ occurred in MFC of the MFC-MEC-coupled system after 8 hours under the batch mode; removal efficiencies (REs) of Cr⁶⁺ and Cu²⁺ were 99.76% and 30.49%. After the same reaction time, REs of nickel and zinc ions were 55.15% and 76.21% in its MEC. Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Zn²⁺ removal efficiencies of 54.98%, 30.63%, 55.04%, and 75.35% were achieved in the effluent within optimum HRT of 2 hours under the continuous mode. The incomplete removal of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ ions in the effluent was due to the fact that the Cr⁶⁺ was almost completely consumed at the end of MFC reaction. After HRT of 12 hours, at the different sampling locations, Cr⁶⁺ and Cu²⁺ removal efficiencies in the cathodic chamber of MFC were 89.95% and 34.69%, respectively. 94.58%, 33.95%, 56.57%, and 75.76% were achieved for Cr⁶⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺ and Zn²⁺ in the cathodic chamber of MEC. It can be concluded that those metal ions can be removed completely by repeatedly passing high concentration of Cr⁶⁺ through the cathode chamber of MFC of the MFC-MEC-coupled system.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.808-812
• /
• 2013

A new type of microbial fuel cell (MFC) with anaerobic membrane filter was designed to produce bioelectricity and to treat domestic sewage at relatively high organic loading rate (OLR) of $6.25kgCOD/m^3/day$ and short hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1.9 h. A following aeration system was applied to ensure effluent water quality in continuous operation. Glucose was supplemented to increase the influent concentration of domestic sewage. Influent substrate of 95% was removed via the MFC and following aeration system and the corresponding maximum power density was $25.6mW/m^3$. External resistor of $200{\Omega}$ and air-cathode system contributed better MFC performance comparing to $2000{\Omega}$ and dissolved oxygen as a catholyte.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.589-593
• /
• 2016

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) can produce electricity from oxidation-reduction of organic and inorganic matters by electrochemically active bacteria as catalyst. Stacked MFCs have been investigated for overcoming low electricity generation of single MFC. In this study, two-typed stacked-MFCs (submerged-flat and stand-falt) were operated according to electrode connection for optimal stacked technology of MFC. In case of submerged-flat MFC with all separator electrode assembly (SEA) sharing anode chamber, MFC with mixed-connection showed more voltage loss than MFC with single-connection method. And MFC stacked in parallel showed better voltage production than MFC stacked in series. In case of stand-flat MFC, voltage loss was bigger when SEAs sharing anodic chamber only were connected in series. Voltage loss was decreased when SEAs parallel connected SEAs sharing anodic chamber were connected in series.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.567-578
• /
• 2013

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a bio-electrochemical device that converts chemical energy in the chemical bonds in organic compounds to electrical energy through catalytic reactions of microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. Power density and Coulombic efficiency are significantly affected by the types of microbe in the anodic chamber of an MFC, configurations of the system and operating conditions. The achievable power output from MFC increased remarkably by modifying their designs such as the optimization of MFC configurations, the physical and chemical operating conditions, and the choice of biocatalysts. This article presents a critical review on the recent advances made in MFC research with the emphasis on MFC configurations, optimization of important operating parameters, performances and future applications of MFC.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.47-52
• /
• 2015

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device that can be obtained electricity from a variety of organic through the catalytic reaction of the microorganism. The MFC can be applied to various fields, and research is required to promote the performance of the microbial fuel cell for commercialization. The lower performance of an MFC is due to oxygen reduction at the cathode and the longer time of microbial degradation at anode. The MFC amount of power is sufficient but, in consideration of many factors, as a renewable energy, now commonly power density as compared to Nafion117 it is an ion exchange membrane used is PP (Poly Propylene) from 80 to about 11 fold higher, while reducing the cost to process wastewater is changed to a microporous non-woven fabric of a low cost, it may be energy-friendly environment to generate electricity. All waste, in that it can act as a bait for microorganisms, sustainability of the microbial fuel cell is limitless. The latest research on the optimization and performance of the operating parameters are surveyed and through the SSaM-GG(Smart, Shared, and Mutual- Green Growth) or GG-SSaM(Green Growth - Smart, Shared, and Mutual) as the concept of sustainable development in MFC, the middle indices are developed in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.357-362
• /
• 2010

Electricity can be directly generated from organic matter even wastewaters using a microbial fuel cell. To achieve high power in MFCs, finding factors decreasing activation and Ohmic losses is very important. In this study we determined activation loss at the anode and cathode and Ohmic loss using the current interruption technique in a H-type MFC. Activation loss at the cathode was four times higher that that of anode activation loss even if pt-coated carbon (0.5 $mg/cm^2$;10%Pt) was used as the cathode. Ohmic loss determined using current interruption technique (1146 ${\Omega}$) was almost same as the internal resistance (1167 ${\Omega}$) measured using AC impedance. The sum of activation losses at the anode and cathode was the same as the value of activation loss of the cell.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.208-212
• /
• 2018

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has been attractive since it can not only treat organic waste in an eco-friendly way by digesting it but also generate electricity by the unique metabolic process of microbes. However, it hasn't been employed in practical use until now because it is hard to integrate a small electricity up to an adequate amount of electric power and difficult to keep its bio-electric activity consistent. In this study, we combined an energy harvester with MFC (MFC-EH) to make the power-integration convenient and developed an energy self-sustainable wireless sensor system driven by a stable electric power produced by MFC-EH. Additionally, we build the low power application measuring data to be cast by the web in real-time so that it can be quickly and easily accessed through the internet. The proposed system could contribute to improvement of waste treatment and up-cycling technologies in near future.