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Responses from freshwater sediment during electricity generation using microbial fuel cells

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Abstract

In a two-electrode system, freshwater sediment was used as a fuel to examine the relationship between current generation and organic matter consumption with different types of electrode. Sediment microbial fuel cells using porous electrodes showed a superior performance in terms of generating current when compared with the use of non-porous electrodes. The maximum current densities with thicker and thin porous electrodes were 45.4 and 37.6 mA m−2, respectively, whereas the value with non-porous electrodes was 13.9 mA m−2. The amount of organic matter removed correlated with the current produced. The redox potential in the anode area under closed-circuit conditions was +246.3 ± 67.7 mV, while that under open-circuit conditions only reached −143.0 ± 7.18 mV. This suggests that an application of this system in organic-rich sediment could provide environmental benefits such as decreasing organic matter and prohibiting methane emission in conjunction with electricity production via an anaerobic oxidation process.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology institutional research programs, and in part by Seoul National University SIR Group of the BK21 Research Program funded by the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) NRL Program grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. R0A-2008-000-20088-0).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental Technology Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul, 130-650, Korea

    Seok Won Hong & Yong Su Choi

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 500-712, Korea

    In Seop Chang

  3. School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Korea University, Anam-dong, Sungbuk-ku, Seoul, 136-701, Korea

    Byung Hong Kim

  4. School of Civil, Urban, and Geosystem Engineering, Seoul National University, San 56-1, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Tai Hak Chung

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  1. Seok Won Hong
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Correspondence to Tai Hak Chung.

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Hong, S.W., Chang, I.S., Choi, Y.S. et al. Responses from freshwater sediment during electricity generation using microbial fuel cells. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 32, 389–395 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-008-0258-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-008-0258-9

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