Characteristics of Generating Electricity with Microbial Fuel Cell by Different Organics as Fuel

Abstract

A two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) was designed to test the feasibility of organics degradation and electricity production, simultaneously, by using various organics including glucose, glucose-phenol mixture, and phenol as fuel. The experimental results showed that the shortest start-up time was achieved by using glucose and the longest was by using phenol as fuel. During the long-term experiments, the average operation period was 400h, 200h, and 100h for glucose, glucose-phenol mixture, and phenol, respectively. The maximal voltage outputs were obtained by 551 mV, 208 mV, and 121 mV (external resistance of 1000Ω), respectively for glucose, glucose-phenol mixture, and phenol. The results indicated that the MFC could make use of phenol for generating power with effective biodegradation. The MFC process may provide a new way to treat the refractory biodegraded organics with excess electrical energy production at the same time.