Investigating the effect of electrode area to volume ratio on the performance of low-cost single chamber microbial fuel cells.

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) system is the new technology that converts energy stored in soluble organic matter present in the wastewater into electricity, using electroactive microbes as catalyst all while simultaneously treating the wastewater. In this research, effect of electrode surface area to volume ratio (Aan/V) on the performance single chamber MFCs was investigated. Four single chamber MFCs were fabricated using clay ware cylinder as proton exchange membrane and stainless steel scrap (SS) as anode, with varying surface area. The findings of this research reveals that there is exists a linear relationship between Aan/V ratio and power output of MFC. The maximum power density of 337.5 mW m−3 and coulombic efficiency of 23% observed in MFC-4 with Aan/V of 0.052 ratio is among the best values reported in the literature with low cost MFC. However, higher voltage drop was noticed in MFC-1 with Aan/V of 0.013 m2 L−1 which indicates the inability of anode to generate current due to power overshoot. Thus, while designing MFC, it is necessary to ensure the adequate surface area is available to harness more electricity. The lower internal resistance and higher pollutant removal (70-80%) demonstrates the efficacy of proposed MFC system for wastewater treatment along with energy recovery. The major bottleneck to make MFC practicable is finding economical electrodes materials for energy recovery present in the soluble organic matter. In the present research, use of scrap steel anode and ceramic separator found to be effective to replace the costly electrode materials shows new direction for scaling of MFCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]