Abstract
BACKGROUNDIn this work, a small‐scale ceramic microbial fuel cell (MFC) with a novel type of metal–carbon‐derived electrocatalyst containing iron and nicarbazin (Fe‐NCB) was developed, to enhance electricity generation from neat human urine. Substrate oxidation at the anode provides energy for the separation of ions and recovery from urine without any chemical or external power additions.RESULTSThe catalyst was shown to be effective in clear electrolyte synthesis of high pH, compared with a range of carbon‐based metal‐free materials. Polarisation curves of tested MFCs showed up to 53% improvement (44.8 W m−3) in performance with the use of Fe‐NCB catalyst.Catholyte production rate and pH directly increased with power performance while the conductivity decreased showing visually clear extracted liquid in the best‐performing MFCs.CONCLUSIONSIron based catalyst Fe‐NCB was shown to be a suitable electrocatalyst for the air‐breathing cathode, improving power production from urine‐fed MFCs. The results suggest electrochemical treatment through electro‐osmotic drag while the electricity is produced and not consumed. Electro‐osmotic production of clear catholyte is shown to extract water from urine against osmotic pressure. Recovering valuable resources from urine would help to transform energy intensive treatments to resource production, and will create opportunities for new technology development. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
Highlights
Water is a naturally circulating resource that is constantly recharged climate change, increasing population and associated shifts in the water cycle vastly complicate the challenge of sustaining freshwater supplies for the future
In the microbial fuel cell (MFC), the electric field is created by the oxidising bacterial consortia in the anaerobic anode utilising organic substrates from the feedstock directly into electric current and protons.[4,5,6]
While the electrons travel through the circuit, the corresponding protons migrate to the cathodic compartment through an ion-exchange membrane to reduce oxygen
Summary
Water is a naturally circulating resource that is constantly recharged climate change, increasing population and associated shifts in the water cycle vastly complicate the challenge of sustaining freshwater supplies for the future. A ‘circular economy’ would turn goods that are at the end of their service life into resources for others, closing loops in industrial ecosystems and minimising waste Bioelectrochemical systems such as microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have the capacity to add value to otherwise useless organic waste streams and to generate off-grid electricity and may be one of the most interesting examples of renewable energy sources.[1,2,3] In the MFC, the electric field is created by the oxidising bacterial consortia in the anaerobic anode utilising organic substrates from the feedstock (wastewater, urine) directly into electric current and protons.[4,5,6] While the electrons travel through the circuit, the corresponding protons migrate to the cathodic compartment through an ion-exchange membrane to reduce oxygen. Substrate oxidation at the anode provides energy for the separation of ions and recovery from urine without any chemical or external power additions
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