Principles and Technology of Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) are bioelectrochemical systems (BES) where at least one of the two redox reactions is catalysed by a biological component (i.e. a whole bacterial cell, an enzyme or a metabolite). The involvement of biological catalysis differentiates them from chemical fuel cells (CFC). BES represents a technology capable to produce power, but also to poise an environmental site at a given redox potential. Moreover, valuable chemicals can be harvested such as hydrogen, methane, organic compounds, hydrogen peroxide or sodium hydroxide. Plenty of other application possibilities for BES have been reported at the level of ‘proof of principle’. Hence, the challenge is to upgrade BES from the lab-scale level to full-scale application and to demonstrate appropriate opportunities in terms of overall economics. Therefore, it is important to find niches where BES technology has clear cut advantages in terms of overall Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) relative to its competitors to turn BES into a mature technology. This chapter reviews recent advantages and challenges of BES from principals to applications.