Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell Research Articles

Efficiency of Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cells (pMFC) Depending on the Type of Microorganisms Inhabiting the Cathode Chamber

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (pMFCs) are hybrid systems that enable simultaneous wastewater treatment under anaerobic conditions and the generation of electricity by utilizing the potential difference in the anaerobic anode chamber and the oxygenated cathode chamber. Dairy wastewater with a concentration of 2000 mg COD/L was treated in the anode of a batch pMFC. In the cathode chamber, Chlorella vulgaris or Arthrospira platensis was cultivated in synthetic medium, and next in diluted effluent from the anode chamber. The highest power density of 91 mW/m2 was generated by the pMFC with the cultivation of Arthrospira platensis. Higher values of dissolved oxygen remained during the dark phase in the cathodic medium with Arthrospira platensis cultivation than with Chlorella vulgaris. This depletion of oxygen significantly decreased voltage generation, which during the light phase increased again to the maximum values. The COD removal achieved in the anodic chamber was 87%. The efficiency of nitrogen removal in the cathode chamber during the cultivation of Arthrospira platensis and Chlorella vulgaris was about 78% and 69%, respectively. The efficiency of phosphorus removal in the cathode chamber with the cultivation of Arthrospira plantensis and Chlorella vulgaris was 58% and 43%, respectively. This study has shown that the introduction of Arthrospira platensis into the cathode chamber is more effective than that of Chlorella vulgaris.

Effect of catholyte on performance of photosynthetic microbial fuel cell for wastewater treatment and energy recovery

The performance of photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) was assessed for wastewater treatment and energy recovery using two different catholytes; untreated domestic wastewater (UDW) and wetland treated wastewater (WTW). The performance was investigated under continuous light and 12/12 h light/dark cycle, employing Scenedesmus sp. as a biocatalyst. The results showed that PMFC with UDW as the catholyte outperformed the WTW under both types of illumination. Under continuous illumination, the PMFC with UDW achieved a maximum working voltage 33 % higher than that of WTW. The rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrient removal in the cathode chamber were significantly higher for PMFC with UDW catholyte. Maximum dissolved oxygen (DO) reached 10 and 8.4 mg/L for UDW and WTW, respectively, with corresponding algae concentrations of 5165 and 3130 mg/L. Under the light/dark cycle, both the working voltage and DO concentration exhibited a diurnal pattern. The maximum algal growth, DO and power output in UDW were higher than WTW under 12/12 h light-dark cycle; however, these values remained lower compared to continuous illumination. These results demonstrate the feasibility of PMFC for both untreated and secondary treated domestic wastewater as catholytes.

Performance comparison of a photosynthetic and mechanically aerated microbial fuel cell for wastewater treatment and bioenergy generation using different anolytes

The use of expensive catalyst or mechanical aeration to carry out reduction reaction at cathode of conventional microbial fuel cell makes it costly and less efficient. Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) provides an option to overcome these issues by using microalgae as a biocatalyst at cathode chamber. This study aimed at assessing the performance of photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) and its comparison with mechanically aerated MFC (MAMFC). The performance of both the systems was evaluated for two different anolytes namely, domestic wastewater and sugar industry wastewater. The PMFCs were inoculated with biocatalyst of Scenedesmus sp. in cathode chamber. Results showed that photosynthetic aeration significantly improved the efficiency of PMFCs as compared to MAMFCs. Maximum working voltage of 316 and 515 mV was achieved by PMFC with domestic wastewater and sugar wastewater, respectively, which was 15 % and 20 % higher than corresponding voltage of MAMFCs. Polarization and power curves showed that higher power density and lower internal resistance was achieved in PMFCs as compared to MAMFCs with both anolytes. Effect of light/dark regime on PMFCs resulted in a rise and drop pattern of dissolve oxygen and voltage generation. During light cycle, the average voltage was 214 mV and 370 mV for PMFC with domestic wastewater and sugar wastewater, respectively, which was 55 % and 54 % higher than corresponding dark cycle. Overall, the findings of the study suggested that PMFC support better power generation as compared to MAMFC, besides nutrients removal and production of algal biomass.

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells: practical applications of electron transfer chains

Membrane electron transfer underlies the central metabolic pathways for energy conversion. The photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains are complex apparatuses capable of generating a transmembrane proton gradient from sunlight or chemical energy. Recent exploitation of these apparatuses as energy convertors is of interest due to the availability and eco-friendliness of the biomaterial. Devices that utilize chemotrophic microorganisms to generate electricity have been known for over one hundred years. In these systems, called microbial fuel cells (MFC), one or more microorganisms catalyze charge transfer from a consumable substrate (acetate, glucose, <i>etc</i>.) to the electrode. Recently, MFCs based on phototrophic organisms have been actively developed. These devices, called photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFC), still resemble the conventional MFC in that they also use living microbial cells to convert chemicals to electrical energy. However, the distinction between these two classes of fuel cells is that the MFC utilizes only the chemical energy of the organic substrate. At the same time, PMFCs are also capable of using solar energy. Common to both devices is the ability to utilize intrinsic electron transfer chains of bacterial metabolism as the primary mechanism of energy conversion. The widespread and accessible solar energy may permit PMFCs based on photosynthesis to become an inexpensive and efficient method for sunlight conversion. MFCs based on heterotrophs may be more promising in wastewater remediation and other ecological applications. This article reviews the latest advances in this field and emphasizes the remaining challenges.<br> The bibliography includes 205 references.

Influence of Light Color on Power Generation and Microalgae Growth in Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell with Chlorella Vulgaris Microalgae as Bio-Cathode

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) is an environmentally friendly sustainable technique for simultaneous wastewater treatment and power recovery. PMFC utilizes the microalgae to generate oxygen by photosynthesis process in the biocathode. Light sources and intensities have direct effect on chlorophyll pigment formation, photosynthesis processes and microalgae growth. In this study, Chlorella vulgaris was utilized as biocathode in PMFC fed with actual slaughterhouse wastewater. The biocathode was illuminated with florescent light as well as yellow, red and blue LED lights with light intensities of 67.46, 47.03, 26.18 and 4.70µmol/m.s, respectively. Power output and microalgae growth were considered in evaluating the PMFC performance. Results demonstrated that the highest power output was 217.04 mW/m2 generated under florescent light compared to 28.41, 171.08, and 21.65 mW/m2 observed under yellow, red and blue LEDs, respectively. Additionally, statistical analysis was performed using fifth-degree polynomial model which fitted well the experimental data with a determination coefficient (R2) > 0.97. The results reflected a high confidence level in depicting the growth mechanism of Chlorella vulgaris under lighting sources with different light colors and intensities.

Simultaneous dairy wastewater treatment and bioelectricity production in a new microbial fuel cell using photosynthetic Synechococcus.

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) is a novel technology, which employs organic pollutants and organisms to produce electrons and biomass and capture CO2 by bio-reactions. In this study, a new PMFC was developed based on Synechococcus sp. as a biocathode, and dairy wastewater was used in the anode chamber. Different experiments including batch feed mode, semi-continuous feed mode, Synechococcus feedstock to the anode chamber, Synechococcus-Chlorella mixed system, the feedstock of treated wastewater to the cathode chamber, and use of extra nutrients in the anodic chamber were performed to investigate the behavior of the PMFC system. The results indicated that the PMFC with a semi-continuous feed mode is more effective than a batch mode for electricity generation and pollutant removal. Herein, maximum power density, chemical oxygen demand removal, and Coulombic efficiency were 6.95 mW/m2 (450 Ω internal resistance), 62.94, and 43.16%, respectively, through mixing Synechococcus sp. and Chlorella algae in the batch-fed mode. The maximum nitrate and orthophosphate removal rates were 98.83 and 68.5%, respectively, wherein treated wastewater in the anode was added to the cathode. No significant difference in Synechococcus growth rate was found between the cathodic chamber of PMFC and the control cultivation cell. The heating value of the biocathode biomass at maximum Synechococcus growth rate (adding glucose into the anode chamber) was 0.2235MJ/Kg, indicating the cell's high ability for carbon dioxide recovery. This study investigated not only simultaneous bioelectricity production and dairy wastewater in a new PMFC using Synechococcus sp. but also studied several operational parameters and presented useful information about their effect on PMFC performance.

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell for bioenergy and valuable production: A review of circular bio-economy approach

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) are environmentally friendly fuel cells employed to produce renewable bioelectricity. These fuel cells require light to support their operation and are efficient to achieve high-power output. Depending upon the type of organism, they can be assisted by photosynthetic cell machinery in plants, bacteria, and algae. Algae assisted PMFCs are advantageous as they grow rapidly, require less space, produce free nascent oxygen and value-added products including bioelectricity. In this regard, this review elucidates the application and advantages of algae assisted PMFC over other PMFCs and their utility for recovery of bioelectricity and value-added products like polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, lutein, carbohydrates, proteins, polyhydroxyalkanoates, etc. Furthermore, the potential of generated bioelectricity and simultaneous resource recovery employing PMFCs are highlighted due to their low cost. Thus, this review can be a rapid guidebook for budding researchers in the field of PMFC's and possibly expedite the economical commercialization of PMFCs.

A revolving algae biofilm based photosynthetic microbial fuel cell for simultaneous energy recovery, pollutants removal, and algae production.

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) based on algal cathode can integrate of wastewater treatment with microalgal biomass production. However, both the traditional suspended algae and the immobilized algae cathode systems have the problems of high cost caused by Pt catalyst and ion-exchange membrane. In this work, a new equipment for membrane-free PMFC is reported based on the optimization of the most expensive MFC components: the separator and the cathode. Using a revolving algae-bacteria biofilm cathode in a photosynthetic membrane-free microbial fuel cell (RAB-MFC) can obtain pollutants removal and algal biomass production as well as electrons generation. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rates of the anode and cathode chambers reached 93.5 ± 2.6% and 95.8% ± 0.8%, respectively. The ammonia removal efficiency in anode and cathode chambers was 91.1 ± 1.3% and 98.0 ± 0.6%, respectively, corresponding to an ammonia removal rate of 0.92 ± 0.02 mg/L/h. The maximum current density and power density were 136.1 mA/m2 and 33.1 mW/m2. The average biomass production of algae biofilm was higher than 30 g/m2. The 18S rDNA sequencing analysis the eukaryotic community and revealed high operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of Chlorophyta (44.43%) was dominant phyla with low COD level, while Ciliophora (54.36%) replaced Chlorophyta as the dominant phyla when COD increased. 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing revealed that biofilms on the cathode contained a variety of prokaryote taxa, including Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, while there was only 0.23–0.26% photosynthesizing prokaryote found in the cathode biofilm. Collectively, this work demonstrated that RAB can be used as a bio-cathode in PMFC for pollutants removal from wastewater as well as electricity generation.

Enzymatic cell disruption followed by application of imposed potential for enhanced lipid extraction from wet algal biomass employing photosynthetic microbial fuel cell

Solvent-free algal cell lysis using fungal enzyme for enhanced lipid recovery diminishes per unit production cost of algal biodiesel. In this investigation, a triple chamber photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) was fabricated, where positive potential was imposed in the extraction chamber to draw the negatively charged lipid ions from the cathodic chamber. Under optimum imposed potential of + 3.0 V (vs standard hydrogen electrode) and with 3.5% (v/v) dosage of fungal enzyme in to the algal consortium of cathodic chamber, a maximum of 79.0% of lipid was recovered. Additionally, enzyme-assisted de-oiled algal biomass was applied in the anodic chamber to function as substrate and mediator for exo-electrogens, and the maximum power density of 10.0 W/m3 with 82.4% removal of chemical oxygen demand was achieved while treating synthetic wastewater. Therefore, this cost-effective exploration demonstrated successful bioelectricity production and concomitant wastewater treatment with solvent-free direct lipid recovery from wet algal biomass through PMFC.

Performance of photo-microbial fuel cell with Dunaliella salina at the saline cathode

The study describes cultivation of Dunaliella salina at the saline cathode in a Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell (PMFC). The alga was isolated from Salt Lake Sambhar, Rajasthan, India, and identified using 18S rDNA sequencing analysis. The alga growth in PMFC was tested at 0.5 M to 1.5 M sodium chloride. The highest power and current density were obtained at 0.5 M NaCl with the values of 213.38 mW m−2 and 1020.5 mA m−2, respectively. The specific growth rate of algae was 0.4 day−1 with 566 mg/L lipids and 348.9 ± 25.6 μg/mL of glycerol content at 0.5 M PMFC. The PMFC operating at 1.0 M NaCl led to high β-carotene production (24.42 ± 1.8 μg/100 mg). The salinity in natural water resources makes it difficult to apply them in bioprocesses. This study establishes the utility of D. salina in saline water-based PMFC for the generation of power and high-value Dunaliella biomass.

Microbial electro deionization for waste water treatment – A critical review on methods, applications and mechanism

Electro deionization using microbial communities has been proven as a competent method for desalination and abatement of water pollution by removing ionic chemicals from the target waters. Microbial Desalination Cell (MDC) facilitates microbial deionization which can either support or be a substitute for the conventional desalination methods. Generation of electricity is accomplished by the bio electrochemical oxidation of organic compounds present as contaminants in wastewater which in turn attribute to the migration of ions in MDC system. The present review aims to elucidate the theory, principles and the application of microbial desalination cell and microbial fuel cell (MFC) in treatment of saline and wastewaters. Air cathode MDC and stacked MDC for purification of saline water are found to give promising results. Air pump assisted microbial desalination cell reported 150.39 ppm h−1 of salt removal with an operational time period of 80 h and showed consistent results. Hence the air cathode assisted MDC showed dominant capacity of salt removal compared to stacked MDC. Also, three major types of microbial fuel cell, namely photosynthetic biofilm MFC, constructive wetland MFC and ceramic membrane supported MFC are reviewed for their potentials in wastewater treatment by deionization method and electricity generation. Complete (100%) removal of chemical oxygen demand was reported by photosynthetic microbial fuel cell operated for 16 days having 435.8 Ω of external resistance. When constructive wetland microbial fuel cell was operated for 10 days with 1000 ohms of external resistance, it exhibited complete (100%) removal of chemical oxygen demand from the wastewater. About 92% of chemical oxygen demand removal was demonstrated by ceramic membrane supported microbial fuel. Compared to ceramic membrane microbial fuel cell, photosynthetic and constructive wetland microbial fuel cell displayed better performance in terms of pollutant removal capacity and economical factor. Ability of the electrogenic species, namely Geobacter, Shewanella, Clostridium and Bacillus and the photosynthetic species, namely Chorella Vulgaris Rhodopsuedomonas, and Scenedesmus abundans in microbial deionization methods and their performance levels reported by several researchers are presented.

Simultaneous Production of Bio-energy and Bio-treatment of Wastewater Using Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell: Optimization and Kinetic Modeling Approach

Simultaneous Production of Bio-energy and Bio-treatment of Wastewater Using Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell: Optimization and Kinetic Modeling Approach

The use of marine microalgae in microbial fuel cells, photosynthetic microbial fuel cells and biophotovoltaic platforms for bioelectricity generation.

Algal green energy has emerged as an alternative to conventional energy production using fossil fuels. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) and biophotovoltaic (BPV) platforms have been developed to utilize microalgae for bioelectricity generation, wastewater treatment and biomass production. There remains a lack of research on marine microalgae in these systems, so to the best of our knowledge, all information on their integration in these systems have been gathered in this review, and are used to compare with the interesting studies on freshwater microalgae. The performance of the systems is extremely reliant on the microalgae species and/or microbial community used, the size of the bio-electrochemical cell, and electrode material and distance used. The mean was calculated for each system, PMFC has the highest average maximum power density of 344 mW/m2, followed by MFC (179 mW/m2) and BPV (58.9 mW/m2). In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each system are highlighted. Although all three systems face the issue of low power outputs, the integration of a suitable energy harvester could potentially increase power efficiency and make them applicable for lower power applications.

Evaluating application of photosynthetic microbial fuel cell to exhibit efficient carbon sequestration with concomitant value-added product recovery from wastewater: A review.

The emission of CO2 from industrial (24%) and different anthropogenic activities, like transportation (27%), electricity production (25%), and agriculture (11%), can lead to global warming, which in the long term can trigger substantial climate changes. In this regard, CO2 sequestration and wastewater treatment in tandem with bioenergy production through photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) is an economical and sustainable intervention to address the problem of global warming and elevating energy demands. Therefore, this review focuses on the application of different PMFC as a bio-refinery approach to produce biofuels and power generation accompanied with the holistic treatment of wastewater. Moreover, CO2 bio-fixation and electron transfer mechanism of different photosynthetic microbiota, and factors affecting the performance of PMFC with technical feasibility and drawbacks are also elucidated in this review. Also, low-cost approaches such as utilization of bio-membrane like coconut shell, microbial growth enhancement by extracellular cell signalling mechanisms, and exploitation of genetically engineered strain towards the commercialization of PMFC are highlighted. Thus, the present review intends to guide the budding researchers in developing more cost-effective and sustainable PMFCs, which could lead towards the commercialization of this inventive technology.

Bioenergy recovery associated with treatment of actual meat industry wastewater in blue green algal biocathode based microbial fuel cell: Experimental and modeling study

ABSTRACT The photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) being one of the microbial fuel cells (MFCs) type, seems to be as a great promising technology for wastewater treatment accompanied with renewable energy production. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of blue-green algae-based PMFC for simultaneous biotreatment of actual slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW), ammonium removal, and bioenergy recovery. The experimental results demonstrated significant removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium (NH4 +) of 99.6 ± 0.5%, and 82.7 ± 1.5%, respectively associated with a power output of 469.6 ± 3.0 mW/m2. Butler–Volmer–Monod model was applied to describe the overpotential-polarization curve for the suggested PMFC. A significant agreement was observed between the experimental and predicted results with a determination coefficient (R2) value of 0.974. The observed favorable results reported in this investigation strongly encourage the use of the proposed technique for the treatment of slaughterhouse effluents.

A Revolving Algae Biofilm Based Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Energy Recovery, Pollutants Removal and Algae Production

A Revolving Algae Biofilm Based Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Energy Recovery, Pollutants Removal and Algae Production

A Revolving Algae Biofilm Based Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Energy Recovery and Pollutants Removal

A Revolving Algae Biofilm Based Photosynthetic Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Energy Recovery and Pollutants Removal

Impact of light on microalgal photosynthetic microbial fuel cells and removal of pollutants by nanoadsorbent biopolymers: Updates, challenges and innovations

Photosynthetic microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) with microalgae have huge potential for treating wastewater while simultaneously converting light energy into electrical energy. The efficiency of such cells directly depends on algal growth, which depends on light intensity. Higher light intensity results in increased potential as well as enhancement in generation of biomass rich in biopolymers. Such biopolymers are produced either by microbes at anode and algae at cathode or vice versa. The biopolymers recovered from these biological sources can be added in wastewater alone or in combination with nanomaterials to act as nanoadsorbents. These nanoadsorbents further increase the efficiency of PMFC by removing the pollutants like metals and dyes. In this review firstly the effect of different light intensities on the growth of microalgae, importance of diatoms in a PMFC and their impact on PMFCs efficiencies have been narrated. Secondly recovery of biopolymers from different biological sources and their role in removal of metals, dyes along with their impact on circular bioeconomy have been discussed. Thereafter bottlenecks and future perspectives in this field of research have been narrated.

Phototrophs in alternative energy

Abstract: The role of phototrophs is examined in alternative energy, with the main emphasis on unicellular algae. Particular attention is paid to the use of phototrophs for generating electricity using biofuel cells (plant and enzymatic biofuel cells are discussed). This study focuses on microbial fuel cells (MFC), which, along with electric power, allow obtaining biofuels and biohydrogen. This article explains the factors limiting the MFC power, and ways of overcoming them. For example, it seems promising to develop various photobioreactors in order to reduce the loss of MFC power due to overvoltage. The use of microphototrophs in MFC has led to the development of photosynthetic MFC (or PhotoMFC) through the design of autotrophic photobioreactors with forced illumination. They allow generating oxygen through photosynthesis, both in situ and ex situ, by recirculating oxygen from the photobioreactor to the cathode chamber. Artificial redox mediators can be used here, transferring electrons directly from the non-catalytic cathode to O2, formed as a result of the photosynthetic activity of algae. Biologically catalyzed cathodes have been proven to generate less power than chemical catalysts. It is noted, that the MFC installations with the micro-algae allow utilizing a wider circle of different connections – the components of effluents and withdrawals: organic acids, sugar, alcohols, fats and other substrata. The use of phototrophs for the production of biofuels is of special interest. Several different types of renewable biofuels can be produced from microalgae, the production of which can be combined with wastewater treatment, CO2 capture and production of various compounds.

Performance evaluation of a photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at cathode

This study reports the use of Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiat the cathode in a photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC). The PMFC produced power and current density of 15.21 W m−3 and 39 A m−3, respectively. The specific growth rate of algae culture at the cathode was 0.284 day−1. The system achieved COD removal at 73.30% with a Coulombic efficiency of 9.068%. The usability of algae biomass was assessed in terms of its total phenol content (157.69 mg GAE/g algae DW), antioxidant activity (IC50 = 67.07 µg/ml), total Chlorophyll (18.95 mg/g), total Carotenoids (2.40 mg/g), and antibacterial properties against known pathogens. Overall, the study's findings suggested thatC. reinhardtiisupports high power output from a PMFC and is highly resourceful in terms of value-added products.