Abstract
Innovative electro-biotechnology of plant–microbial fuel cell involves the use of electrodes for the collection of bioelectricity produced by soil rhizosphere microorganisms, utilizing products of photosynthesis and plant residues compounds. The performance of plant–microbial electro-biosystem is highly dependent on the electrode materials and their configurations. Various materials as electrodes for electro-biosystems were analyzed, conducting experiments in laboratory with indoor plants and in situ with forest and garden plants. Graphite wastes of electric transport as cathodes and perforated zinc-galvanized steel plates as anodes were selected as electrodes for plant–microbial fuel cell due to their electro-efficiency, low cost and sustainability in environment. To design multi-electrode system, electrodes were connected each other by copper wires into cathode and anode system. The use of graphite wastes and polyvinyl chloride-insulated copper wires promoted reduction of the cost of electro-biotechnology. Multi-electrode plant–microbial fuel cells with 12 anodes and 11 cathodes with Caltha palustris plants at 10 Ω produced current of 40.98 mA that is 10.1 times more than mono-electrode plant–microbial fuel cells. The parallel connection of two multi-electrode electro-biosystems was resulted in 2.1-fold increase in current compared to the current generated by the one multi-electrode electro-biosystem. The serial connection of three multi-electrode plant–microbial fuel cells was led to an increase in the bioelectric potential in 2.9 times; at the same time, their parallel connection did not increase voltage. Variations of parallel–serial connections of several multi-electrode plant–microbial fuel cells as energy subunits into one complex multi-electro-biosystem were appeared the way to maximize the receiving of plant–microbial bioelectricity.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Aelterman P, Rabaey K, Pham HT, Boon N, Verstraete W (2006) Continuous electricity generation at high voltages and currents using stacked microbial fuel cells. Environ Sci Technol 40(10):3388–3394. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0525511
Allen E (2015) Biogas production from novel substrates. PhD Thesis, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Al-Mamun A, Ahmad W, Baawain MS, Khadem M, Dhar BR (2018) A review of microbial desalination cell technology: configurations, optimization and applications. J Clean Prod 183:458–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.054
Arends JB, Speeckaert J, Blondeel E, De Vrieze J, Boeckx P, Verstraete W, Rabaey K, Boon N (2014) Greenhouse gas emissions from rice microcosms amended with a plant microbial fuel cell. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98:3205–3217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5328-5
Ayala-Ruiz D, Atoche AC, Ruiz-Ibarra E, de la Rosa EO, Castillo JV (2019) A self-powered PMFC-based wireless sensor node for smart city applications. Wirel Commun Mob Com 2019:8986302. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8986302
Behera BK, Varma A (2016) Microbial resources for sustainable energy. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland
Bombelli P, Iyer DMR, Covshoff S, McCormick AJ, Yunus K, Hibberd JM, Fisher AC, Howe CJ (2013) Comparison of power output by rice (Oryza sativa) and an associated weed (Echinochloa glabrescens) in vascular plant bio-photovoltaic (VP-BPV) systems. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:429–438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4473-6
Bombelli P, Dennis RJ, Felder F, Cooper MB, Iyer DMR, Royles J, Harrison ST, Smith AG, Harrison CJ, Howe CJ (2016) Electrical output of bryophyte microbial fuel cell systems is sufficient to power a radio or an environmental sensor. R Soc Open Sci 3:160249. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160249
Cervantes-Alcala R, Arrocha-Arcos AA, Peralta-Pelaez LA, Ortega-Clemente LA (2012) Electricity generation in sediment plant microbial fuel cells (SPMFC) in warm climates using Typha domingensis Pers. Int Res J Biotechnol 3(9):166–173
Chen Y, Bellini M, Bevilacqua M, Fornasiero P, Lavacchi A, Miller H, Wang L, Vizza F (2015) Direct alcohol fuel cells: toward the power densities of hydrogen-fed proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Chemsuschem 8(3):524–533. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201402999
Cheng S, Liu H, Logan BE (2006) Increased power generation in a continuous flow MFC with advective flow through the porous anode and reduced electrode spacing. Environ Sci Technol 40:2426–2432. https://doi.org/10.1021/es051652w
Chiranjeevi P, Mohanakrishna G, Mohan SV (2012) Rhizosphere mediated electrogenesis with the function of anode placement for harnessing bioenergy through CO2 sequestration. Bioresour Technol 124:364–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.08.020
Chowdury MCK, Park SB, Park Y (2020) Graphene oxide-hydrogen membrane fuel cell. Int J Precis Eng Manuf-Green Tech 7:669–681. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-020-00201-x
Crow P (2005) The influence of soils and species on tree root depth. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh
Dai J, Wang J-J, Chow AT, Conner WH (2015) Electrical energy production from forest detritus in a forested wetland using microbial fuel cells. GCB Bioenergy 7:244–252. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12117
de la Rosa EO, Castillo JV, Campos MC, Pool GRB, Nunez GB, Atoche AC, Aguilar JO (2019) Plant microbial fuel cells—based energy harvester system for self-powered IoT applications. Sensors 19(6):1378. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061378
De Schamphelaire L, Van Den Bossche L, Hai SD, Hofte M, Boon N, Rabaey K, Verstraete W (2008) Microbial fuel cells generating electricity from rhizodeposits of rice plants. Environ Sci Technol 42(8):3053–3058. https://doi.org/10.1021/es071938w
Eshel A, Beeckman T (2013) Plant roots: the hidden half. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton
Gomora-Hernandez JC, Serment-Guerrero JH, Carreno-de-Leon MC, Flores-Alamo N (2020) Voltage productionina plant-microbial fuelcellusing Agapanthus africanus. Rev Mex Ing Quim 19(1):227–237. https://doi.org/10.24275/rmiq/IA542
Gonzalez MLJ, Hernandez Benitez C, Juarez ZA, Zamudio Perez E, Ramirez Coutino VA, Robles I, Godinez LA, Rodriguez-Valadez FJ (2020) Study of the effect of activated carbon cathode configuration on the performance of a membrane-less microbial fuel cell. Catalysts 10(6):619. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10060619
Habibul N, Hu Y, Wang YK, Chen W, Yu HQ, Sheng GP (2016) Bioelectrochemical chromium (VI) removal in plant-microbial fuel cells. Environ Sci Technol 50:3882–3889. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b06376
Helder M, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Kuhn AJ, Blok C, Buisman CJN (2010) Concurrent bio-electricity and biomass production in three Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells using Spartina anglica, Arundinella anomala and Arundo donax. Bioresour Technol 101(10):3541–3547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.12.124
Helder M, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2012) The flat-plate plant microbial fuel cell: the effect of a new design on internal resistances. Biotechnol Biofuels 5:70. https://doi.org/10.1186/1754-6834-5-70
Helder M, Chen WS, Van Der Harst EJM, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN, Potting J (2013) Electricity production with living plants on a green roof: environmental performance of the plant-microbial fuel cell. Biofuel Bioprod Biorefining 7(1):52–64. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1373
Hubenova Y, Mitov M (2012) Conversion of solar energy into electricity by using duckweed in direct photosynthetic plant fuel cell. Bioelectrochemistry 87:185–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioelechem.2012.02.008
Islam A, Hwa Teo S, Awual MR, Taufiq-Yap YH (2019a) Improving the hydrogen production from water over MgO promoted Ni-Si/CNTs photocatalyst. J Clean Prod 238:117887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117887
Islam A, Hwa Teo S, Awual MR, Taufiq-Yap YH (2019b) Assessment of clean H2 energy production from water using novel silicon photocatalyst. J Clean Prod 244:118805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118805
Islam A, Hwa Teo S, Awual MR, Taufiq-Yap YH (2020) Ultrathin assembles of porous array for enhanced H2 evolution. Sci Rep 10(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59325-4
Ji J, Chung Y, Kwon Y (2020) The effect of a vitamin B 12 based catalyst on hydrogen peroxide oxidation reactions and the performance evaluation of a membraneless hydrogen peroxide fuel cell under physiological pH conditions. J Mater Chem C 8(8):2749–2755. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TC06345E
Jung SP, Pandit S (2019) Important factors influencing microbial fuel cell performance. In: Venkata Mohan S, Varjani S, Pandey A (eds) Microbial electrochemical technology:sustainable platform for fuels, chemicals and remediation. Biomass, Biofuels, Biochemicals. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 377–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-64052-9.00015-7
Kabutey FT, Zhao Q, Wei L, Ding J, Antwi P, Quashie FK, Wang W (2019) An overview of plant microbial fuel cells (PMFCs): configurations and applications. Renew Sust Energ Rev 110(C):402–414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.05.016
Kaku N, Yonezawa N, Kodama Y, Watanabe K (2008) Plant/microbe cooperation for electricity generation in a rice paddy field. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 79(1):43–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1410-9
Kalathil S, Patil SA, Pant D (2017) Microbial fuel cells: electrode materials. In: Wandelt K, Vadgama P (eds) Encyclopediaof interfacial chemistry: surface science and electrochemistry. Elsevier, Amsterdam. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409547-2.13459-6
Kouzuma A, Kasai T, Nakagawa G, Yamamuro A, Abe T, Watanabe K (2013) Comparative metagenomics of anode-associated microbiomes developed in rice paddy-field microbial fuel cells. PLoS ONE 8(11):e77443. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077443
Liang Y, Feng H, Shen D, Li N, Guo K, Zhou Y, Xu J, Chen W, Jia Y, Huang B (2017) Enhancement of anodic biofilm formation and current output in microbial fuel cells by composite modifications of stainless steel electrodes. J Power Sources 342:98–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.12.020
Liu S, Song H, Li X, Yang F (2013) Power generation enhancement by utilizing plant photosynthate in microbial fuel cell coupled constructed wetland system. Int J Photoenergy 172010:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/172010
Lu L, Xing D, Ren ZJ (2015) Microbial community structure accompanied with electricity production in a constructed wetland plant microbial fuel cell. Bioresour Technol 195:115–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.05.098
Martins RF, Martins DAA, Costa LAC, Matencio T, Paniago RM, Montoro LA (2020) Copper hexacyanoferrate as cathode material for hydrogen peroxide fuel cell. Int J Hydrog Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.01.077
Mohtasham J (2015) Review article-renewable energies. In: International conference on technologies and materials for renewable energy, environment and sustainability, TMREES15. Energy Procedia 74:1289–1297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.774
Moqsud MA, Yoshitake J, Bushra QS, Hyodo M, Omine K, Strik DPBTB (2015) Compost in plant microbial fuel cell for bioelectricity generation. Waste Manag 36:63–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2014.11.004
Ndjebayi JN(2017) Aluminum production costs: a comparative casestudy of production strategy. Dissertation, Walden University
Nitisoravut R, Regmi R (2017) Plant microbial fuel cells: a promising biosystems engineering. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 76:81–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.064
Oh S-E, Logan BE (2006) Proton exchange membrane and electrode surface areas as factors that affect power generation in microbial fuel cells. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 70:162–169. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-0066-y
Oodally A, Gulamhussein M, Randall DG (2019) Investigating the performance of constructed wetland microbial fuel cells using three indigenous South African wetland plants. J Water Process Eng 32(100930):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2019.100930
Oon Y-L, Ong S-A, Ho L-N, Wong Y-S, Oon Y-S, Lehl HK, Thung W-E (2015) Hybrid system up-flow constructed wetland integrated with microbial fuel cell for simultaneous wastewater treatment and electricity generation. Bioresour Technol 186:270–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.014
Pamintuan KRS, Clomera JAA, Garcia KV, Ravara GR, Salamat EJG(2018) Stacking of aquatic plant-microbial fuel cells growing water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes). In: IOP conference series: earth and environmental science191, 012054. The 4th international conference on water resource and environment (WRE 2018) 17–21 July 2018, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. IOP Publishing, Kaohsiung City.https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/191/1/012054
Potter MC (1911) Electrical effects accompanying the decomposition of organic compounds. Proc R Soc Lond Series B 84:260–267. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1911.0073
Rabaey K, Verstraete W (2005) Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation. Trends Biotechnol 23:291–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2005.04.008
Reboul MC, Baroux B (2011) Metallurgical aspects of corrosion resistance of aluminium alloys. Mater Corros 62(3):215–233. https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.201005650
Ren H, Lee H-S, Chae J (2012) Miniaturizing microbial fuel cells for potential portable power sources: promises and challenges. Microfluid Nanofluid 13:353–381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-0986-7
Santoro C, Arbizzani C, Erable B, Ieropoulos I (2017) Microbial fuel cells: from fundamentals to applications. A review. J Power Sources 356(15):225–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.03.109
Sarma PJ, Mohanty K (2018) Epipremnum aureum and Dracaena braunii as indoor plants for enhanced bioelectricity generation in a plant microbial fuel cell with electrochemically modified carbon fiber brush anode. J Biosci Bioeng 126(3):404–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2018.03.00
Sawyerr N, Trois C, Workneh TS, Okudoh V (2019) An overview of biogas production: fundamentals, applications and future research. Int J Energy Econ Policy 9(2):105–115. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.7375
Sonawane JM, Gupta A, Ghosh PC (2013) Multi-electrode microbial fuel cell (MEMFC): a close analysis towards large scale system architecture. Int J Hydrog Energy 38(12):5106–5114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.02.030
Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Snel JFH, Buisman CJ (2008) Green electricity production with living plants and bacteria in a fuel cell. Int J Energy Res 32(9):870–876. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.1397
Strik DPBTB, Timmers RA, Helder M, Steinbusch KJ, Hamelers HV, Buisman CJ (2011) Microbial solar cells: applying photosynthetic and electrochemically active organisms. Trends Biotechnol 29(1):41–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.10.001
Takanezawa K, Nishio K, Kato S, Hashimoto K, Watanabe K (2010) Factors affecting electric output from rice-paddy microbial fuel cells. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 74:1271–1273. https://doi.org/10.1271/bbb.90852
Tapia NF, Rojas C, Bonilla CA, Vargas IT (2018) A new method for sensing soil water content in green roofs using plant microbial fuel cells. Sensors 18:71. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18010071
Thue AW (2013) Electrical power cable engineering, 3rd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Timmers RA, Strik DPBTB, Hamelers HVM, Buisman CJN (2010) Long-term performance of a plant microbial fuel cell with Spartina anglica. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 86(3):973–981. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2440-7
Timmers RA, Rothballer M, Strik DPBTB, Engel M, Schulz S, Schloter M, Hartmann A, Hamelers B, Buisman C (2012) Microbial community structure elucidates performance of Glyceria maxima plant microbial fuel cell. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 94(2):537–548. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-3894-6
Torigoe K, Takahashi M, Tsuchiya K, Iwabata K, Ichihashi T, Sakaguchi K, Sugawara F, Abe M (2018) High-power abiotic direct glucose fuel cell using a gold−platinum bimetallic anode catalyst. ACS Omega 3(12):18323–18333. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.8b02739
Tou I, Azri YM, Sadi MH, Lounici H, Кebbouche-Gana S (2019) Chlorophytummicrobial fuel cell characterization. Int J Green Energy. 16:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2019.1650049
Varanasi J, Veerubhotla R, Pandit S, Das D (2019) Biohydrogen Production Using Microbial Electrolysis Cell. In: Venkata MS, Varjani S, Pandey A (eds) Microbial electrochemical technology:sustainable platform for fuels, chemicals and remediation. Biomass, biofuels, biochemicals. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp843–869.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-64052-9.00035-2
Venkata Mohan S, Mohanakrishna G, Chiranjeevi P (2011) Sustainable power generation from floating macrophytes based ecological microenvironment through embedded fuel cells along with simultaneous wastewater treatment. Bioresour Technol 102:7036–7042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.04.033
Walter XA, Gajda I, Forbes S, Winfield J, Greenman J, Ieropoulos I (2016) Scaling-up of a novel, simplified MFC stack based on a self-stratifying urine column. Biotechnol Biofuels 9(93):1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-016-0504-3
Wetser K, Sudirjo E, Buisman CJN, Strik DPBTB (2015) Electricity generation by a plant microbial fuel cell with an integrated oxygen reducing biocathode. Appl Energy 137:151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.10.006
Yadav R, Subhash A, Chemmenchery N, Kandasubramanian B (2018) Graphene and graphene oxide for fuel cell technology. Ind Eng Chem Res 57(29):9333–9350. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.8b02326
Yan D, Song X, Weng B, Yu Z, Bi W, Wang J (2018) Bioelectricity generation from air-cathode microbial fuel cell connected to constructed wetland. Water Sci Technol 78(9):1990–1996. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2018.471
Zinchenko OI, Salatenko VN, Bilonozhko MA (2001) Roslynnytstvo [Plant Growing]. Ahrarna osvita, Kyiv (in Ukrainian)
Acknowledgments
We express sincere gratitude to the Volodymyr Voronko, Viktoriia Vakuliuk, Hamkalo Khrystyna, Ihor Seletskyi, Nazar Stempitskyi and Andrii Zmyslyi for their technical assistance in the experiments and design of bioelectricity collection systems.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The idea for the article was belonged to IR and OM. Research and data analysis were performed by IR, BV and OM. The manuscript was written by IR and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Senthil Kumar Ponnusamy.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rusyn, I.B., Medvediev, O.V. & Valko, B.T. Enhancement of bioelectric parameters of multi-electrode plant–microbial fuel cells by combining of serial and parallel connection. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 18, 1323–1334 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02934-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02934-3