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Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells: Configuration and Potential Drop Phenomenon at Series Connection of Unit Cells in Shared Anolyte
Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells: Configuration and Potential Drop Phenomenon at Series Connection of Unit Cells in Shared Anolyte
Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells: Configuration and Potential Drop Phenomenon at Series Connection of Unit Cells in Shared Anolyte
201100678
To scale-up microbial fuel cells (MFCs), installing multiple unit MFC2 from 46.41 0.95 to 43.82 2.23 %. As the p-value of
cells in a common reactor has been proposed; however, there the t-test was lower than 0.05, the difference was considered
has been a serious potential drop when connecting unit cells significant; however, if the unit cells are installed far enough
in series. To determine the source of the loss, a basic stack- from each other to avoid the potential drop phenomenon, the
MFC (BS-MFC) has been devised, and the results show that the system will be less dense, consequently reducing the ratio of
phenomenon is due to ions on the anode electrode traveling electrode area per volume of anode compartment and de-
through the electrolyte to be reduced at the cathode connect- creasing the power density of the system. Finally, this study
ed in series. As calculated by means of the percentage poten- suggests design criteria for scaling-up MFC systems: Multiple-
tial drop, the degree of potential drop decreased with an in- electrode-installed MFCs are modularized, and the unit cells
crease in the unit-cell distance. When the distance was in- are connected in series across the module (connecting each
creased from 1 to 8 cm, the percentage potential drop in BS- unit cell does not share the anolyte).
MFC1 decreased from 46.76 0.90 to 45.08 0.70 % and in BS-
Introduction
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bioelectrochemical systems that cell stacks (planar banded configuration) to be due to the par-
generate electricity via the activity of microorganisms on the asitic current generated between serially connected anodes
anode electrode.[1] Thanks to its versatility, MFC technology has and cathodes when two unit cells shared an electrolyte mem-
been found in a wide range of applications, including biosen- brane.[20]
sors,[2, 3] small power generation systems, such as sediment bat- Herein, the issue of scaling-up MFCs will be addressed, espe-
teries,[4, 5] and wastewater treatment systems.[6, 7] However, most cially with regard to their potential configuration. In addition,
have only been implemented on lab-scale. the mechanism of the potential drop phenomenon is identi-
The scalability of MFCs is crucial for real applications, not fied and alleviation methods suggested. Lastly, a design of
only in terms of increased capacity of fuel utilization, but also MFC plants is drawn according to suggestions made in the
to increase the power production. Therefore, this concept has study.
recently become a critical issue pertaining to their feasibility;
a number of researchers have focused on various MFC configu-
rations, electrode/separator materials, catalysis, etc.[8]
To fulfill these needs, MFC stacks have been investigated,
and two approaches have been attempted so far: 1) Serial [a] Dr. D. Kim, J. An, B. Kim, Prof. I. S. Chang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering
stacking individual MFCs,[9–14] and 2) installing multiple anodes
Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)
in a single compartment.[15–19] In terms of ease-of-construction, 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro (Oryong-dong), Buk-gu
the second approach ensures simpler fabrication than the first, Gwangju 500-712 (Republic of Korea)
which requires a delicate design for the feed and discharge, Fax: (+ 82) 62-715-2434
E-mail: ischang@gist.ac.kr
that is, the second approach has advantages in terms of con-
[b] Dr. J. K. Jang
struction and maintenance (viability requirements). In addition,
Energy and Environmental Engineering Division
the installation of multiple anodes in a reactor can increase the National Institute of Agricultural Science
ratio of electrode area per volume of anode compartment, and Rural Development Administration
it was previously verified that a high ratio leads to a high 150, Seodun-dong, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon 441-707 (Republic of Korea)
power density.[16] [c] Dr. B. H. Kim
Water Environment Research Centre
However, it has also been reported that a potential drop
Korea Institute of Science and Technology
occurs when anolyte-sharing unit cells were connected in 39-1 Hawolgok-dong, Sungpook-gu, Seoul 136-791 (Republic of Korea)
series,[19] which was expected to be due to ionic cross conduc- Supporting Information for this article is available on the WWW under
tion. Ionic cross conduction was also reported in hydrogen fuel http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201100678.
1086 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091
Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells
Results and Discussion unit cells was devised. The unit cells (UC) were enriched, and
the maximum OCVs from 1-UC-A, 1-UC-B, 2-UC-A, and 2-UC-B
were 0.75, 0.73, 0.70, and 0.78 V, respectively. The OCV values
Multiple unit cell installed MFC (prism-shaped)
from each unit cell were similar to each other, showing that
A prism-shaped MFC (Pri-MFC) with three membrane electrode similar amounts of microbial cells were attached to each
assemblies (MEAs) was designed; advantages of a Pri-MFC anode electrode. Next, the unit cells were operated under
arise from the cell configuration and usage of MEAs. If six closed circuit mode, with an external resistance of 1000 W. The
prism-shaped cartridges are used for a cylindrical reactor, the respective maximum closed circuit voltages (CCVs) from each
ratio of the electrode area per volume of anode compartment unit cell were 0.56 0.01, 0.54 0.00, 0.54 0.01, and 0.56
can be maximized (see the Supporting Information, Table S1), 0.01 V.
one of the key aspects for scaling-up an MFC. The MEA makes
the cathode surface area comparable to the anode surface
Series connection of unit cells in BS-MFC (un-shared vs.
area, an important design parameter because cathodes are
shared anolyte)
often regarded as a major bottleneck for MFC operations.[21]
Here, an air-breathing cathode is used to reduce the opera- The duplicated systems were operated in unshared mode by
tional costs compared to a cathode system with an aerated placing an acrylic plastic between the anode electrodes of UC-
buffer. A and UC-B. The re-developed OCVs from each unit cell were
Three MEAs in the Pri-MFC were enriched and displayed as noted in Table 2. After connection in series, no voltage
stable open circuit voltages (OCVs), as noted in Table 1. When
the three MEAs were connected in parallel, each showed the
same OCV level (0.55 V) as in a connected circuit. Various Table 2. OCVs of each unit cell and in series-connected stack with un-
orders of series connections were then tested (a–b–c, a–c–b, shared anolyte.
b–a–c, b–c–a, c–a–b, and c–b–a), which each had different Cell Mode OCV [V]
OCV values. These experiments were duplicated and the re- UC-A UC-B in series
sults were similar. BS-MFC1 un-connected 0.73 0.73 –
in series 0.73 0.73 1.46
BS-MFC-2 un-connected 0.74 0.72 –
Table 1. OCVs of three Pri-MFC MEAs and their parallel/series connection. in series 0.74 0.72 1.47
ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.chemsuschem.org 1087
I. S. Chang et al.
1088 www.chemsuschem.org 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091
Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells
is not a practical method because a small loss of power direct- creasing the voltage via a series connection (Figure 2 a). How-
ly affects the operational costs of the system. ever, this approach might also increase the fabrication com-
Another approach could be to increase the distance be- plexity because each unit cell requires subsidiary systems, such
tween facing anodes, that is, as the distance of ion conduction as influent/effluent channels and pumps, thereby incurring
increases, the resistance is consequently increased. Our results enormous costs on a large scale.
show that increasing the distance between UC-A and UC-B To cut such extra costs, an MFC system using a common
(from 1 to 8 cm) decreased the potential drop. At a distance of anolyte in several unit cells would have a big advantage.
1 cm, the percentage potential drops of BS-MFC1 and BS- Therefore, we should determine possible methods for collect-
MFC2 were 46.76 0.90 and 46.41 0.95 %, respectively (see ing the current from each unit cell and develop the voltage via
the Supporting Information, Table S2). However, this decreased a series connection. As one solution, the charging systems
when the distance was increased to 8 cm to 45.08 0.70 and (e.g., batteries) can be directly connected to each unit cell (Fig-
43.82 2.23 % (see the Supporting Information, Table S3). The ure 2 b). However, this method also requires extra costs for the
difference was significant, as the p-values of the t-test were battery (installation and maintenance costs).
0.048 and 0.038 for BS-MFC1 and BS-MFC2, respectively. Even Employing several MFC stacks is another prospective
for distances tested in this study (1 to 8 cm), the degree of po- method for overcoming the inherent drawbacks of MFCs (Fig-
tential drop decreased with increased distance. However, if the ure 2 c). By connecting unit cells from different MFC stacks in
unit cells were installed far enough from each other to avoid series, the potential drop phenomenon can be avoided as they
the potential drop phenomenon, the system will be less do not share an anolyte. In addition, employing plural MFCs
dense; consequently, reducing the ratio of electrode area per via a hydraulic connection has been shown to increase sub-
volume of the anode compartment leads to a decrease in the strate utilization and, consequently, the overall conversion effi-
systems power density. As previously verified, the potential ciency.[11]
drop almost disappeared when thin rubber tubing (20 cm long A conceptual MFC module system was subsequently pro-
and 0.3 cm inner diameter) was installed between each unit posed from the concept shown in Figure 2, using a multiple-
cell.[19] However, when considering MFC scalability, this design electrode MFC (ME-MFC) as the basic platform (Figure 3). Multi-
is not a practical option. ple ME-MFCs are installed in each module, and the liquid flows
from the top to bottom by gravitational force. As ME-MFCs in
the same module share the anolyte (liquid), a series connection
Design recommendations for scaling-up MFC systems
is conducted between the cells in different modules. It is ex-
Note that there are other possible approaches for overcoming pected that a system with a vertical liquid flow and horizontal
the potential drop phenomenon at the scaling-up stage. First, series connection would utilize the whole substrate feed and
separating the anolyte of each unit cell can be an alternative. at the same time increase the voltage for the operation of cer-
As verified in the previous section, no potential drop occurred tain electric devices. Moreover, this system can be operated in
if the unit cells did not share a common anode reactor. There- both continuous and sequential batch modes. To realize this
fore, by simply using blocks to separate the unit cells into indi- type of system, the number of ME-MFCs in a module and
vidual sections, the potential drop can be avoided while in- number of modules needs to be calculated.
Conclusions
In this study, installing multiple
unit cells in a common reactor is
suggested as being an advanta-
geous method for scaling-up mi-
crobial fuel cell (MFC) systems.
One of the biggest drawbacks of
the suggested system, however,
is the potential drop phenomen-
on that occurs in the series con-
nection of each unit cell. As rec-
ommended by a previous study,
increasing the resistance (espe-
cially distance) between the unit
cells decreases the potential
drop; however, this cannot be
applied to a large-scale MFC.
Therefore, a design criterion—
Figure 2. Proposed methods to overcome the potential drop phenomenon (for simplification, each unit cell in- modularization—was proposed
cluding the anode and the cathode is described as a rectangle and only two unit cells are depicted). to increase the capacity of fuel
ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.chemsuschem.org 1089
I. S. Chang et al.
utilization, concomitant with avoiding the potential drop phe- Basic stack-MFCs: The BS-MFC stack used was prepared from poly-
nomenon. acrylic plastic (Figure 5). Graphite felt (5 cm 5 cm 0.4 cm), cation
exchange membranes (Nafion N424), and platinum wires were
used as the electrodes, separators, and electron collectors, respec-
Experimental Section tively. Two unit cells (UC-A and UC-B) had separated cathode com-
partments (125 mL; 5 cm 5 cm 5 cm) and a common anode
Construction, start-up, and operation of MFCs compartment (a set of two BS-MFCs was prepared; unit cells were
Prism-shaped-MFCs: The Pri-MFC was prepared by using poly- designated as 1-UC-A, 1-UC-B, 2-UC-A, and 2-UC-B). The horizontal
acrylic plastic, and had a cylindrical shape with three MEAs (desig- lengths of the anode compartments were 1 and 8 cm, yielding
nated as MEA-a, MEA-b, MEA-c). As shown in Figure 4, a prism-like void volumes of 25 (5 cm 5 cm 1 cm) and 200 mL (5 cm 5 cm
cartridge was inserted into a reactor containing the anode com- 8 cm), respectively. An acrylic plate could be installed in the middle
partment (light gray region around the triangle in Figure 4 a). MEAs of the anode compartment to separate the anolyte from the unit
were mounted on each side of the cartridge (three MEAs per car- cells. An anaerobic digester fluid from a brewery wastewater treat-
tridge; Figure 4 b). Note that the electrodes facing the outside of ment plant (Gwangju, Korea) was used as the inoculum source.
the cartridge were the anodes; there were void volumes inside the Note that the modified artificial wastewater containing 2 mm phos-
prisms, and the electrodes facing the inside were operated as air- phate buffer (pH 7.0) was used as the medium, and 10 mm acetate
breathing cathodes (area inside the triangle in Figure 4 a). The lid was added as the substrate. The catholyte solution consisted of
and base of the reactor each had one hole and faced each other 50 mm potassium ferricyanide(III) in a 25 mm phosphate buffer
through the inside of the cartridg- (pH 7.0). The MFC stack was operated under batch mode during
es to expose the cathode electro-
des to air. The actual volume of
the anode compartment equipped
with six cartridges was 150 mL.
Each MEA was prepared as previ-
ously described,[23] with Nafion 114
(2.1 cm 9.2 cm) used as the
cation exchange membrane and
two carbon cloths (1.5 cm 8.5 cm;
non-wet-proofed for anode and
10 % wet-proofed for cathode)
used as the electrodes. Platinum
was used as the cathode catalyst
(0.1 mg cm2). An anaerobic digest-
er fluid was diluted two times with
an anaerobically prepared medium
(artificial wastewater) containing
acetate (5 mm as final concentra-
tion after dilution) as the sub-
strate.[24] The mixture was then fed Figure 5. Schematic diagram of BS-MFC.
1090 www.chemsuschem.org 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091
Scaling-Up Microbial Fuel Cells
the enrichment step and was then switched to continuous mode [1] B. H. Kim, I. S. Chang, G. M. Gadd, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2007, 76,
(dilution rate = 0.15 h1 for the main tests. All experiments were 485 – 494.
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1999, 9, 365 – 367.
connection of two unit cells, the UC-B cathode was connected to
[3] I. S. Chang, J. K. Jang, G. C. Gil, M. Kim, H. J. Kim, B. W. Cho, B. H. Kim,
the UC-A anode by using an external metal wire (UC-B [Anode j j
Biosens. Bioelectron. 2004, 19, 607 – 613.
Cathode]–[Anode j j Cathode] UC-A). An acrylic plate was placed [4] J. An, H. Moon, I. S. Chang, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 7145 – 7150.
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[8] B. E. Logan, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2010, 85, 1665 – 1671.
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[9] P. Aelterman, K. Rabaey, T. H. Pham, N. Boon, W. Verstraete, Environ. Sci.
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[10] A. Dekker, A. T. Heijne, M. Saakes, H. V. M. Hamelers, C. J. N. Buisman, En-
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[12] I. Ieropoulos, J. Greenman, C. Melhuish, Int. J. Energy Res. 2008, 32,
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ing equation: VCell = ECatEAn, where EAn and ECat are the anode and [15] D. Jiang, X. Li, D. Raymond, J. Mooradain, B. Li, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy
cathode potential, respectively, and VCell is the cell voltage. 2010, 35, 8683 – 8689.
[16] Z. Li, L. Yao, L. Kong, H. Liu, Bioresour. Technol. 2008, 99, 1650 – 1655.
[17] T. Shimoyama, S. Komukai, A. Yamazawa, Y. Ueno, B. E. Logan, Appl. Mi-
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This work was supported by grants from Doyak (formerly, the Na- [20] R. O’Hayre, T. Fabian, S. J. Lee, F. B. Prinz, J. Electrochem. Soc. 2003, 150,
tional Research Laboratory Program; R0A-2008-000-20088-0); the A430 – A438.
Pioneer Research Center for Nano-morphic Biological Energy Con- [21] H. Rismani-Yazdi, S. M. Carver, A. D. Christy, O. H. Tuovinen, J. Power
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Keywords: electrochemistry · energy conversion · fuel cells · Received: October 29, 2011
microbes · scale-up Revised: February 14, 2012
Published online on May 8, 2012
ChemSusChem 2012, 5, 1086 – 1091 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.chemsuschem.org 1091