Mediator-less microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Cyclic voltammetry showed that some anaerobic bacteria are electrochemically active. They oxidize electron donor in the anode compartment of a fuel cell-type device without an electron acceptor, transferring electron to the electrode. Electrochemically active bacterial consortia could be enriched in fuel cell-type electrochemical cell under various nutritional conditions. They were studied as a novel wastewater treatment process with energy recovery and as a novel BOD sensor. In most cases the effluent from microbial fuel cell (MFC) fed with wastewater contained BOD < 10 mg/L with the sludge production < 1/4 of the conventional activated sludge process. MFC as a novel wastewater treatment process is promising not only because of the energy recovery in the form of electricity but also because of energy saving to treat sludge generated. MFC can be used as a BOD sensor as well as stabilizing sediment to improve water quality in lakes. This is an abstract of a paper presented ACS Fuel Chemistry Meeting (Washington, DC Fall 2005).