title: High performance spiral wound microbial fuel cell with hydraulic characterization.
abstract: The understanding and development of functioning systems are crucial steps for microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology advancement. In this study, a compact spiral wound MFC (swMFC) was developed and hydraulic residence time distribution (RTD) tests were conducted to investigate the flow characteristics in the systems. Results show that two-chamber swMFCs have high surface area to volume ratios of 350-700m(2)/m(3), and by using oxygen cathode without metal-catalysts, the maximum power densities were 42W/m(3) based on total volume and 170W/m(3) based on effective volume. The hydraulic step-input tracer study identified 20-67% of anodic flow dead space, which presents new opportunities for system improvement. Electrochemical tools revealed very low ohmic resistance but high charge transfer and diffusion resistance due to catalyst-free oxygen reduction. The spiral wound configuration combined with RTD tool offers a holistic approach for MFC development and optimization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA. Electronic address: alexander.haeger@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haeger
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA. Electronic address: casey.forrestal@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Casey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Forrestal
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. Electronic address: pxu@nmsu.edu.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA. Electronic address: jason.ren@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Zhiyong Jason
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D004560:Electricity; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Dead space; Hydraulic residence time distribution; Microbial fuel cell; Spiral wound