Impact of electrode arrangement and electrical connections on the power generation of ceramic membrane microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Some of the most popular technologies for wastewater sanitation, still face serious limitations related to high energy consumption requirements. In this context, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) constitute a promising approach since they do not require aeration and produce electricity at the same time. Limitations for these devices, however, are related to the cost of the constituents and the functionality of the arrangement. In this work, a semi-cylindrical ceramic MFC was designed and constructed using a low-cost commercial ceramic handcraft as a membrane, carbon felt, carbon cloth, and carbon cloth/activated carbon in different arrangements for the anode and cathode components. The best results were obtained using carbon felt as an anode and a cathodic zone built with carbon felt in which void regions were filled with activated carbon. This arrangement produced 85 mWm⁻² for each cell. Evaluating the performance of the MFC in a modular system with eight cells using a different number of separations inside the module and different electrical connections, resulting in a 4-compartment module that produced 90 mWm⁻² with one single module and 95 mWm⁻² with a serial arrangement of two modules.