title: Performance of low cost scalable air-cathode microbial fuel cell made from clayware separator using multiple electrodes.
abstract: Performance of scalable air-cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) of 26 L volume, made from clayware cylinder with multiple electrodes, was evaluated. When electrodes were connected in parallel with 100 Ω resistance (R ext), power of 11.46 mW was produced which was 4.48 and 3.73 times higher than individual electrode pair and series connection, respectively. Coulombic efficiency of 5.10 ± 0.13% and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 78.8 ± 5.52% was observed at R ext of 3 Ω. Performance under different organic loading rates (OLRs) varying from 0.75 to 6.0 g CODL(-1)d(-1) revealed power of 17.85 mW (47.28 mA current) at OLR of 3.0 g CODL(-1)d(-1). Internal resistance (R int) of 5.2 Ω observed is among the least value reported in literature. Long term operational stability (14 months) demonstrates the technical viability of clayware MFC for practical applications and potential benefits towards wastewater treatment and electricity recovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India.
authors.forename: Anil N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ghadge
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India. Electronic address: ghangrekar@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Makarand M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ghangrekar
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000191:economics; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Clayware separator; Microbial fuel cell; Multiple electrodes connection; Organic loading rate; Scaling up