Abstract
Hygienic measures are extremely important to avoid the transmission of contagious viruses and diseases. The use of an electronic faucet increases the hygiene, encourages hand washing, avoids touching the faucet for opening and closing, and it saves water, since the faucet is automatically closed. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has the capability to convert environmental waste into energy. The implementation of low cost ceramic MFCs into electronic interfaces integrated in toilets, would offer a compact powering system as well as an environmentally friendly small-scale treatment plant. In this work, the use of low cost ceramic MFCs to power an L20-E electronic faucet is presented for the first time. A single MFC was capable of powering an electronic faucet with an open/close cycle of 8.5 min, with 200 ml of urine. With a footprint of 360 cm3, the MFC could easily be integrated in a toilet. The possibility to power e-toilet components with MFCs offers a sustainable energy generation system. Other electronic components including an automatic flush, could potentially be powered by MFCs and contribute to the maintenance efficiency and hygiene of the public toilets, leading to a new generation of self-sustained energy recovering e-toilets.
Highlights
The number of people living without electricity decreased to roughly840 million between 2010 and 2019
Despite the notable progress made on energy access in recent years, the global energy targets set in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to ensure
A total of 6 individual Microbial fuel cell (MFC) were assembled with fine fire clay (FFC) ceramic cylinders of 84 mm height, an external diameter of 48 mm and 2.5 mm thickness, which acted as the membrane separation between anode and cathode and the MFC structure
Summary
The number of people living without electricity decreased to roughly840 million between 2010 and 2019. The combined advantages obtained from the MFC technology include energy recovery from waste, decentralised wastewater treatment, pathogen killing and electrochemical production of catholyte with dis infecting properties [3,4,5,6,7,8]. These advantages together with the relatively new initiative of circular economy, which in itself requires new tech nological approaches for energy generation, waste management and resource recovery, position MFCs at the top of renewable energy tech nologies. The use of low cost materials such as ceramic membranes or carbon-based electrodes increases the possibility to implement such technology in the developing countries
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