Analysis on a rectangular microbial fuel cell performance

Abstract:

The pH and ionic conductivity change of the anode and cathode solution was tested, and producing electricity process and energy utilization were analyzed to provide a theoretical basis for improving the MFC performance in this paper. Experimental results show as follows: The pH and ionic conductivity of the anode solution decreased, while that of the cathode solution increased with the MFC operation, and the latter was higher than the former by about 0.30?0.50 unit finally, while the average ionic conductivity of which changed slightly. When the MFC operated stably, the ohmic resistance was 29.69 Ω, the limiting current was 2.69 mA and the maximum power output was about 0.8 mW corresponding to the internal resistance of about 95.72 Ω. The mass transfer of potassium ferricyanide was the limiting factor of the limiting current. According to energy analysis, glucose of 91.1% in the anode solution was consumed by other microorganisms, and only glucose of 8.9% was used to generate electricity. Furthermore, the energy of 88.5% in the latter was converted into other forms, and only 11.5% of which was converted into electricity.