See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/332527910

Low Power Electrical Generator from Soil Microbial Fuel Cell

Conference Paper · October 2018

DOI: 10.1109/EECCIS.2018.8692948

CITATIONS READS

0 213

2 authors:

Mulyadi Samadi Wahyuni Rika

Universitas Borneo Tarakan Universitas Borneo Tarakan
10 PUBLICATIONS   10 CITATIONS    8 PUBLICATIONS   9 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Pembuatan Film Tipis Pyroelektrik BaxSr1-xTiO3 untuk Sensor Suhu View project

Electrical Stimulation for Blood Glucose Control View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Wahyuni Rika on 08 May 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Low Power Electrical Generator from
Soil Microbial Fuel Cell
Mulyadi1, Rika Wahyuni Arsianti2
1, 2
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Borneo Tarakan
Tarakan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia
mul.ubt@gmail.com,
Abstract – The alternative energy is needed for remote area such
as North Kalimantan Province. One of local potential of the
province for renewable energy is peat soil. The aim of this study is
to harvest electricity from Soil Microbial Fuel Cell. The dimension
of SMFC is 18 cm x 11.4 cm x 38.7 cm. In this study we used two
parallel array of SMFC. The coconut water is used to increase the
humidity of soil to produce higher electrical power. The data
measurements generated by SMFC are monitored for 7 days. The
maximum power from SMFC is 98.2 mW. The result shows that
The SMFC is able to turn on the lights for 900 minutes with the
maximum light intensity produced at 5.260 Lux while the
maximum intensity of light if using AA battery is 21.900 Lux.
Therefore SMFC is highly recommended for remote areas in
North Kalimantan for electrical sources.
Keywords: peat soil, SMFC, boost coverter, electrode, renewable
energy
I. INTRODUCTION
There are 352 villages in North Kalimantan Province that
have not been served by electricity networks. Nunukan is the
region with the lowest electrified village ratio in the province
of North Kalimantan, which is only 25.83% [1]. Therefore,
renewable energy is needed as a source of electrical energy.
One of interesting topic for renewable energy is
Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) because it doesn’t produce
carbon emission and do not need energy input, instead, a
small amount of electrical power is generated [2,3,4]. MFC
produces electrical power generation by the
exoelectrogenic bacteria in soil [5]. MFC consist of two
compartments anode, cathode in single chamber MFC [6,7].
In the MFC, the energy stored in chemical bonds in different
organic compounds is indirectly converted into electrical
energy through enzymatic reaction conducted by
microorganism. Exoelectrogenic bacteria is commonly
existing in the soil, are capable of transferring electrons
outside their cells through direct contact [8,9]. Most of the
smallest and most interesting organisms on earth are in the
soil [9]. The performance of MFCs depends on several
factors including microbial activity, substrate type,
concentration and electrode material [10].
Some studies investigated the performance of the
MFC to generate electrical signal include the MFC
configuration [11-13], Effect of electrode material types
[14,15] and MFC operational conditions [16,17]. Some
studies investigate the effect of substrate for electricity
production in the MFC. Kim uses galactose, maltose, sucrose
[18], Liu uses sludge [19] while Chaudury and Lovely used
rkwahyuni@gmail.com
glucose as a substrate [20]. The water content contained in
the MFC also affects the electrical power generated. The
higher the soil moisture, the greater the electrical power
produced [21]. Several factors can improve the MFC
performance to produce electricity. Therefore it is important
to determine the factors that affect MFC.
This study aims to investigate the MFC of peat soil to
produce electricity signal with coconut water and well water
as a electrolyte solution to moisturize the soil. The activity
of microbial on peat soil to decompose plant decay to
increase electricity production [22,23]. Peat soils are widely
found in Kalimantan so that this local potential can be
optimized as renewable electricity. In this study, we use
coconut water to increase the humidity of soil. Coconut
water is easy to find and generally thrown away with other
household wastes. Coconut water contains amino acids,
organic acids, vitamins and sugar. More than half the portion
is sucrose and the rest is glucose and fructose [24]. Coconut
water is not only to increase the humidity of soil but also act
as substrate in MFC.
II. RESEARCH METHOD
Soil Microbial Fuel Cell Design
The SMFC dimension used in this study is 18 cm x 11.4
cm x 38.7 cm. The electrodes used in this SMFC are copper
(Cu) and iron (Fe) plate-shaped which are installed
sequentially. Each SMFC cell contains 9.6 kg of peat soil.
The electrode's dimensions have a length of 36.5 cm and
width of 15 cm. SMFC consists of 2 positive electrodes and 2
negative electrodes. This study uses two SMFCs. The first
SMFC will be added with 2000 mL of coconut water and the
other SMFC will add 2000 mL of well water. The addition of
solution to the soil aims to increase the humidity of the soil.
To investigate the effect of coconut water and well water on
the electricity signal generated, we measured the electrical
potential of an SMFC for 24 hours. Measurement of voltage
and current is carried out every 4 hours. The data of voltage
and current from the SMFC can be seen in tables 1 and 2.
Wet + states that the soil conditions are very moist
The result shows that voltage and current generated
using coconut water is higher than well water. Coconut
water contains minerals with lot of positive and negative
charge ions. Thus, the electrochemical process or the process
of changing chemical energy into electrical energy becomes
greater because the electrodes become more reactive.
Table 1. The Voltage and Current with Coconut Water Table 4. The Voltage and Current in Parallel

Time Voltage Current Humidity Time Voltage Current Humidity

(day/hour) (V) (mA) of Soil (day/hour) (V) (mA) of Soil
Sunday/ 09.00 1.010 69 Wet + Monday/17.00 0.984 80 Wet +
Sunday / 13.00 0.989 65 Wet +
Tuesday/01.00 0.958 77 Wet +
Sunday / 17.00 0.986 65 Wet +
Sunday / 21.00 0.984 64 Wet + Tuesday/09.00 0.954 65 Wet +
Monday / 01.00 0.980 55 Wet + Tuesday/17.00 0.944 61 Wet +
Monday / 05.00 0.965 52 Wet + Wednesday/01.00 0.551 59 Wet +
Monday/09.00 0.950 50 Wet + Average 0.878 68.4 Wet +
Average 0.980 60 Wet+
Table 2. The Voltage and Current with Well Water. In series circuit of SMFC the voltage generated is
greater than parallel. While in the parallel circuit the resulting
Time Voltage Current Humidity current is greater than series. In this study we choose parallel
(day/hour) (V) (mA) of Soil array SMFC due to the current that generated is greater than
Sunday/ 09.00 0.989 13.38 Wet + series. The voltage level generated by the parallel SMFC
Sunday / 13.00 0.988 13.21 Wet + series will be raised using the boost converter circuit.
Sunday / 17.00 0.986 13.08 Wet +
Sunday / 21.00 0.976 13.21 Wet + Design of Boost Converter
Monday / 01.00 0.950 12.83 Wet +
Monday / 05.00 0.945 12.34 Wet + The boost converter circuit is used to raise a dc voltage
Monday/09.00 0.920 12.18 Wet + level to higher level dc voltage that produced by SMFC. This
Average 0.964 12.89 Wet+ SMFC parallel array will be connected to the 3W LED lamp
load. The setting parameters of boost converter are output
SMFC array voltage 30 V and efficiency (η) is 80%. The minimum
Two SMFCs will be array in series and parallel. In this voltage is 0.8 V. The duty cycle is determined by using
study every SMFC contained 9.6 kg peat soil and 2000 mL equation (1).
coconut water. We use coconut water as electrolyte to Vin
(min)
xη
increase the humidity of soil because the voltage and current D =1− (1)
Vout
is higher than well water. We investigate the voltage and
current generated from two SMFCs array both series and
parallel. This aims to find the optimum array of SMFC to 0.3 x 0.8
produce voltage and current values. Series and parallel array D = 1−
of SMFC is shown in figure 2. The results of measurements 30
of voltage and current can be seen in table 3 and table 4.
D = 0.9786

The ripple current on the inductor can be obtained through

equation (2). The 940 µH inductor is used in this circuit. The
20 kHz switching frequency 20 is used.

Vin x (Vout − Vin )

ΔI L = (2)
L x fs x Vout

(a) (b) The ripple current on the inductor can be obtained through
Figure 2. SMFC array (a) Series (b) parallel equation (2). The 940 µH inductor is used in this circuit. The
20 kHz switching frequency 20 is used.
Table 3. The Voltage and Current in Series
Vin x (Vout − Vin )
ΔI L = (2)
Time Voltage Current Humidity L x fs x Vout
(day/hour) (V) (mA) of Soil
Monday/17.00 1.960 47 Wet +
Tuesday/01.00 1.857 42.4 Wet + 0.8 x ( 30 − 0.8)
ΔI L =
Tuesday/09.00 1.840 42 Wet + −6 3
940.10 e x 2.10 x 30
Tuesday/17.00 1.690 41 Wet +
Wednesday/01.00 1.678 33 Wet +
ΔIL = 0.0554 A
Average 1.805 41.8 Wet +
The Capacitor in boost converter circuit can be obtained by The boost converter circuit can increase the input voltage to
using equation (3). The maximum output current (IOUT max) 36.9 V and under no-load conditions. The output voltage is
is 0.25 A. 18.4 Volt with load conditions. Furthermore, the boost
converter circuit will be tested with a voltage source from
two parallel array SMFCs.
I OUT (max) x D
COUT (min) = (3) Experimental Set-Up for SMFC
fs x VOUT
The next step is testing the two SMFC in parallel arrays
to turn on the LED lights 3W. Parallel SMFC arrays schemes
0.25 x 0.978 can be seen in Figure 5 and Figure 6 is SMFC with 3W LED
C OUT (min) =
2.10
3
x 30
lights

C (min) = 0.407 μF
OUT

Figure 5. Two SMFC parallel arrays scheme

Figure 3. Boost Converter Circuit

Figure 6. SMFC with 3W LED Lamp

III.RESULT AND DISCUSSIION

The performance of SMFC in parallel arrays to turn on
3W LED lights can be seen in table 6. The input voltage and
Figure 4. Boost Converter with 3W LED Lamp current at the SMFC are 1,018 V and 106 mA. The output
voltage generated by the boost converter reaches 30 V with
The measurement results of the boost converter circuit the output current reaching 16.98 mA. This is occurs in no
are shown in table 5. The power supply to boost converter load conditions. While the SMFC is connected to the load,
circuit is a 1.5 V battery. The performance of boost converter the output voltage drops to 0.619 V.
with 3W lamp can be seen at table 5.
Table 6. The performance of SMFC
Table 5. The Boost Converter Measurement
VIN IIN VOUT IOUT Freq
VIN IIN VOUT IOUT Frequency Load
Load (V) (mA) (V) (mA) (MHz)
(V) (mA) (V) (mA) (kHz)
1.018 106 30 16.98 0.015 No Load
1.417 190 36.9 9.07 2.604 No Load
1.271 182.2 38.7 52.9 20.45 No Load 1.018 106 28.1 17.16 0.0311 No Load

1.488 214.8 20.8 17.3 28.41 3W Lamp 1.018 106 0.619 2.3 3210 3W Lamp
1.479 211.9 18.4 15 14.87 3W Lamp 1.018 106 0.691 1.97 1403 3W Lamp
 In this study we investigated the performance of which can cover the surface area of the active anode, thus
SMFCs with a 3W lamp load for 7 days. Measurement of the inhibiting the transfer of electrons to the cathode and causing
voltage and current generated by parallel SMFC series is a decrease in the value of the power density [17].
taken every 10 minutes. The voltage and current data 100
generated by SMFC can be seen in Figures 7 and 8.

3 .0
10

2 .5 Power SMFC

Power (mW)
Load Power
1
2 .0
Voltage (V)

1 .5

SMFC 0.1
L o a d V o lta g e
1 .0

0 .5
0.01
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
0 .0
Time (minutes)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

T im e (m in u tes) Figure 9. SMFC Power and Load Power

Figure 7. Voltage of SMFC and Load Voltage Electrodes play an important role in harvesting electrical
The output voltage generated by SMFC in the first potential from the SMFC. Electrodes undergo oxidation
minute reaches 0.9 V and this is the peak voltage generated when in contact with air and a solution of coconut water so
by the SMFC. The voltage value reaches stability at 0.58 that a corrosive occur which causes the voltage and current
Volt in 270 minutes duration this voltage continues to be decreased.
stable of 0.5 Volts until the 7th day at 1800 minutes. The The addition of coconut water solution also affects the
boost converter circuit can increase the SMFC voltage from electrical power generated by the SMFC [27]. The substrate
0.5 V to 2 V. The voltage of SMFC for 7 days can be seen at influences the bacterial composition of the anode biofilm so
figure 7. SMFC current measurement for 7 days can be seen that it affects the electricity generated [28]. In our next work
in Figure 8. In the first minutes the current produced by the is to investigate the composition of bacteria with the addition
SMFC is 99 mA . The current continue to decrease upt o 7 of substrates that affect electrical power.
days and the current of SMFC is 23 mA. The intensity of the light produced by the SMFC in the
100
first minute is 5260 Lux while if using a battery voltage
source the resulting light intensity is 21900 Lux. This SMFC
is able to turn on the LED lights up to 900 minutes with the
10 last minute light intensity of 25 Lux. The LED lights can
light up for 1500 minutes with a minimum intensity of light
Current (mA)

1 S M F C C u rre n t
produced by 32 lux using 1.5 V Battery. The light intensity
L o a d C u rre n t of SMFC and battery can be seen in Figure 10. The intensity
of light produced is strongly influenced by the voltage and
0 .1 current of the source. The battery used in this study has a
voltage of 1.5 V and a current of 200 mA.

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 25000
T im e ( m in u te s )

20000
Figure 8. SMFC Current
The electricity power of SMFC is shown in figure 9.
Intensity (Lux)

15000
The maximum power of SMFC is 98.2 mW. Electricity
generated is decreasing. The SMFC's electrical power lasts Battery AA
up to 1800 minutes and the minimum value produced is 10000
SMFC

11.98 mW. This is because during the substrate retrieval

interval to be measured, the content of organic compounds
decreases due to continued degradation by microbes [25]. 5000

Another factor that causes the decrement the electricity

generated by the SMFC is internal resistance is raised. You 0
et al said that the value of internal resistances in the MFC 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
chamber reached 1000 Ω [26]. The increases is caused by the Duration (minutes)
formation of bacterial cell layers on the surface of the anode Figure 10. Light Intensity of SMFC and battery
 While the voltage and current generated by the SMFC is
1,018 V and 106 mA. The current produced by the SMFC is
only half of the current obtained by the battery source. This is
causes the light intensity produced by SMFCs to be smaller.
Parallel SMFC array is able to turn on 3W lights for 900
minutes while using batteries can last up to 1500 minutes. In
the first minute the SMFC was able to produce a light
intensity of 5260 Lux. After the duration of ignition is 360
minutes the intensity of light produced is 1440 Lux. Light
intensity reaches 24 Lux and occurs at 900 minutes. The use
of battery sources is able to turn on 3W LED lights for 1500
minutes with the highest and lowest light intensity produced
is 21900 Lux and 32 Lux. The duration of the lighting of the
lamp produced by SMFC when compared to the battery is:
durasi maksimum SMFC
%= x 100%
durasi maksimum battery
900
= x 100% = 60%
1500
The intensity of the light produced by the SMFC is 5260 Lux
while the battery is 21,900 Lux means 24.01%.
IV.CONCLUSION
The parallel SMFC array is capable to produce electricity
of 98.2 mW and is able to turn on the LED lights for 900
minutes with the highest and lowest light intensity
respectively is 5260 Lux and 24 Lux. The SMFC can be
proposed as a renewable energy for remote areas that have
not obtained electrical network. .SMFC is very effective
because of the low cost and simple maintenance for
community to produce low-power electricity as public street
lighting and at home.
V. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge Borneo
University and the Ministry of Research, Technology and
Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia for the
financial support for this study under the research grant
Penelitian Andalan Institusi
VI. REFERENCES
1. Directorate General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,
The Electricity Bulletin, No.48(12).pp 26-28
2. Lovley, D.R., 2006. Bug juice: harvesting electricity with
microorganisms. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 4(7), p.497.
3. Davis, F. and Higson, S.P., 2007. Biofuel cells—recent advances and
applications. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 22(7), pp.1224-1235.
4. Nitisoravut, R. and Regmi, R., 2017. Plant microbial fuel cells: A
promising biosystems engineering. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 76, pp.81-89.
5. Kim, J. R., Min, B., & Logan, B. E. (2005). Evaluation of procedures to
acclimate a microbial fuel cell for electricity production. Applied
microbiology and biotechnology, 68(1), 23-30
6. Liu, H., & Logan, B. E. (2004). Electricity generation using an air-
cathode single chamber microbial fuel cell in the presence and absence
of a proton exchange membrane. Environmental science & technology,
38(14), 4040-4046.
7. Li, S. L., & Xu, Q. (2013). Metal–organic frameworks as platforms for
clean energy. Energy & Environmental Science, 6(6), 1656-1683
View publication stats
8. Wolińska, A., Stępniewska, Z., Bielecka, A., & Ciepielski, J. (2014).
Bioelectricity production from soil using microbial fuel cells. Applied
biochemistry and biotechnology, 173(8), 2287-2296
9. Quan, X. C., Quan, Y. P., Tao, K., & Jiang, X. M. (2013). Comparative
investigation on microbial community and electricity generation in
aerobic and anaerobic enriched MFCs. Bioresource technology, 128,
259-265.
10. Akman, D., Cirik, K., Ozdemir, S., Ozkaya, B., & Cinar, O. (2013).
Bioelectricity generation in continuously-fed microbial fuel cell: effects
of anode electrode material and hydraulic retention time. Bioresource
technology, 149, 459-464.
11. Ringeisen, B. R., Ray, R., & Little, B. (2007). A miniature microbial
fuel cell operating with an aerobic anode chamber. Journal of Power
Sources, 165(2), 591-597.
12. Kim, J. R., Jung, S. H., Regan, J. M., & Logan, B. E. (2007). Electricity
generation and microbial community analysis of alcohol powered
microbial fuel cells. Bioresource technology, 98(13), 2568-2577.
13. Aelterman, P., Rabaey, K., Pham, H. T., Boon, N., & Verstraete, W.
(2006). Continuous electricity generation at high voltages and currents
using stacked microbial fuel cells. Environmental science & technology,
40(10), 3388-3394.
14. Zhou, M., Chi, M., Luo, J., He, H., & Jin, T. (2011). An overview of
electrode materials in microbial fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources,
196(10), 4427-4435.
15. Park, D. H., & Zeikus, J. G. (2000). Electricity generation in microbial
fuel cells using neutral red as an electronophore. Applied and
environmental microbiology, 66(4), 1292-1297.
16. Ashoka, H., Shalini, R., & Bhat, P. (2012). Comparative studies on
electrodes for the construction of microbial fuel cell. International
Journal of Advanced Biotechnology and Research, 3(4), 785-789
17. Park, D. H., & Zeikus, J. G. (2000). Electricity generation in microbial
fuel cells using neutral red as an electronophore. Applied and
environmental microbiology, 66(4), 1292-1297.
18. Fitriani, F. Z., Suyati, L., & Rahmanto, W. H. (2017). Pengaruh
Konsentrasi Substrat Maltosa terhadap Potensial Listrik Baterai
Lactobacillus bulgaricus (MFC). Jurnal Kimia Sains dan Aplikasi,
20(2), 74-78.
19. Liu, Z. D., & Li, H. R. (2007). Effects of bio-and abio-factors on
electricity production in a mediatorless microbial fuel cell. Biochemical
Engineering Journal, 36(3), 209-214.
20. Chaudhuri, S. K., & Lovley, D. R. (2003). Electricity generation by
direct oxidation of glucose in mediatorless microbial fuel cells. Nature
biotechnology, 21(10), 1229.
21. Pasaribu, L. (2011). Studi Analisis Pengaruh Jenis Tanah, Kelembaban,
Temperatur dan Kadar air Garam Terhadap Tahanan Pertanahan
Tanah (Doctoral dissertation, Tesis. Universitas Indonesia. Depok).
22. Hartikainen, T., Martikainen, P. J., Olkkonen, M., & Ruuskanen, J.
(2002). Peat biofilters in long-term experiments for removing odorous
sulphur compounds. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 133(1-4), 335-348.
23. Hunter, P. J., Petch, G. M., Calvo-Bado, L. A., Pettitt, T. R., Parsons, N.
R., Morgan, J. A. W., & Whipps, J. M. (2006). Differences in microbial
activity and microbial populations of peat associated with suppression
of damping-off disease caused by Pythium sylvaticum. Applied and
environmental microbiology, 72(10), 6452-6460.
24. Yogaswara, R. R., Farha, A. S., Khairunnisa, K., Pusfitasari, M. D., &
Gunawan, A. (2017). Studi Penambahan Mikroorganisme Pada Substrar
Limbah Pome Terhadap Kinerja Microbial Fuel Cell. Teknik Kimia,
12(1).
25. Kim, J. R., Cheng, S., Oh, S. E., & Logan, B. E. (2007). Power
generation using different cation, anion, and ultrafiltration membranes
in microbial fuel cells. Environmental science & technology, 41(3),
1004-1009
26. You, S., Zhao, Q., Zhang, J., Jiang, J., & Zhao, S. (2006). A microbial
fuel cell using permanganate as the cathodic electron acceptor. Journal
of power sources, 162(2), 1409-1415.
27. Li, F., Sharma, Y., Lei, Y., Li, B., & Zhou, Q. (2010). Microbial fuel
cells: the effects of configurations, electrolyte solutions, and electrode
materials on power generation. Applied biochemistry and biotechnology,
160(1), 168.
28. Pant, D., Van Bogaert, G., Diels, L., & Vanbroekhoven, K. (2010). A
review of the substrates used in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for
sustainable energy production. Bioresource technology, 101(6), 1533-
1543.