title: Removable air-cathode to overcome cathode biofouling in microbial fuel cells.
abstract: An innovative microbial fuel cell (MFC) design is described, which allows the air-cathode to be replaced easily without draining the electrolyte. MFCs equipped with 9-cm2or 50-cm2bioanodes provided 0.6 and 0.7W/m2(referred to the cathode surface area) and were boosted to 1.25 and 1.96W/m2, respectively, when the initial air-cathode was replaced by a new one. These results validate the practical interest of removable air-cathodes and evidence the importance of the cathode biofouling that takes place during the MFC starting phase. As this biofouling is compensated by the concomitant improvement of the bioanodes it cannot be detected on the power curves and may be a widespread cause of performance underestimation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génie Chimique CNRS - Université de Toulouse (INPT), 4 allée Emile Monso, 31432 Toulouse, France. Electronic address: manon.oliot@ensiacet.fr.
authors.forename: Manon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génie Chimique CNRS - Université de Toulouse (INPT), 4 allée Emile Monso, 31432 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Etcheverry
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génie Chimique CNRS - Université de Toulouse (INPT), 4 allée Emile Monso, 31432 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergel
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources; D057219:Biofouling / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design
keywords: Bioanode; Bioelectrochemical system; Numerical modelling; Reactor design