Performance evaluation of microbial fuel cell using novel anode design and with low-cost components

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have proven to be an effective technology for treatment of waste water with the additional advantage of electricity generation. Although the power density obtained has increased manyfold over the past decade, the cost of treatment and cost of electricity generation need to be brought down to make the process feasible. In the present research, an attempt was made to use locally available, low-cost and effective materials for the construction of an MFC using novel anode architecture. The MFC was made using multiple membranes in a single cell. The special design of the anode proved to be very effective in obtaining a higher power density. A volumetric power density of 2002 mW/m³ could be achieved without the use of any chemical catholyte. The corresponding coulombic efficiency obtained was 13.17%. When a chemical catholyte was used, the power density increased to 5201 mW/m³, an increase by more than 2.5 times. The corresponding coulombic efficiency of the MFC also increased to 29.16%. Such novel anode architecture could take this technology a step forward for practical implementation to harvest carbon dioxide neutral electricity from waste water. The performance of the MFC in the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from waste water was found to be 93.9–97.75%, which is highly satisfactory. The removal efficiency was found to be independent of the initial COD of the substrate.