Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology

The way traditional power plants generate electricity is using fossil fuel (coal, gas, and oil) where coal still plays a crucial role in the energy generation currently. It supplies approximately 33% of the world’s needs. (Coal – IEA, n.d.) In the case of, carbon emissions emitted by fossil fuels can lead to global warming, serious heart, and respiratory disease, etc. Turning now to innovative eco-friendly technologies to reduce carbon emissions from energy generation.

A large and growing body of literature has investigated microbial fuel cell technology in the development of green energy production. The term ‘Microbial Fuel Cells’ is referring to bio electrochemical device that able to generate electricity from electrons converted from microorganisms such as bacteria in wastewater. (Sonawane et al., 2024) Both renewable energy and Microbial Fuel Cells share a number of key features. Renewable energy is generated from replenishing natural sources with almost zero carbon emissions. In the same way, Microbial Fuel Cells generate electricity from microorganisms as mentioned above. Whereas MFC tends to be more efficient, Rabaey and Verstraete (2005) observed 2 aspects of notable differences: 1) it has lower requirements on geographic location and temperature than other renewable generation technologies. 2) it can be applied to wastewater treatment and management. Furthermore, Nießen et al. (2004) comprehensive review concluded that the generation even can be made from marine sediments and silt simultaneously with degradation.

The components of microbial fuel cell consist of negative anode and positive cathode. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) separated the anode and cathode into two-chambered. This membrane only allows tiny positively charged particles to pass through. The anode is where the microorganisms gather on the electrode. It’s placed in a liquid containing organic material. Meanwhile, the microorganisms take electrons from the organic material, leaving it positively charged. These electrons then go to the electrode. A wire links the electrodes at the anode and cathode. Electrons produced at the anode travel through this wire to the cathode. The cathode can be exposed to different substances like air, water, or potassium ferricyanide. The membrane allows the positive hydrogen ions produced at the anode to pass to the cathode. There, they complete the electric flow by joining with oxygen and electrons to form water. (MFCs – Basic Information | FABE, n.d.)

Slate et al. (2019) review of the previous literature concluded that the limitation of this technology applied to industry into 3 reasons: 1) high cost on electrode materials, 2) transmission rate and material of generating energy and 3) It didn’t achieve the theoretical optimal efficient output.  During the experiment for boosting performance, scholars found that when MFC uses microorganisms, marine sediments as input it gets clogged up the surface of the electrode lost over time as well as catalyst inactivation.

In conclusion, microbial fuel cell technology has potential to achieve the SDGs and reduce the carbon footprint by transitioning from the traditional way of energy generation. However, as there are several limitations mentioned above. Further experiments and studies should focus on it to make it industry adopted and usage.

Reference:

Coal – IEA. (n.d.). IEA. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/fossil-fuels/coal

MFCs – Basic Information | FABE. (n.d.). https://fabe.osu.edu/mfcfacts#:~:text=Microbial%20fuel%20cells%20(MFCs)%20are,converted%20into%20useable%20electrical%20energy.

Niessen, J., Schröder, U., Rosenbaum, M., & Scholz, F. (2004). Fluorinated polyanilines as superior materials for electrocatalytic anodes in bacterial fuel cells. Electrochemistry Communications, 6(6), 571-575.

Rabaey, K., & Verstraete, W. (2005). Microbial fuel cells: novel biotechnology for energy generation. TRENDS in Biotechnology, 23(6), 291-298.

Slate, A. J., Brownson, D. a. C., & Banks, C. E. (2019). Microbial fuel cells: An overview of current technology. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 101, 60–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.09.044

Sonawane, A. V., Rikame, S., Sonawane, S. H., Gaikwad, M., Bhanvase, B., Sonawane, S. S., … & Gaikwad, R. (2024). A review of microbial fuel cell and its diversification in the development of green energy technology. Chemosphere, 141127.

Image reference:

SuSanA Secretariat, 23 March 2014, Microbial fuel cell stack that converts urine into electricity,accessed 6 February 2024, <https://www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/13359544514>.

Paulsmith99(talk),25 June 2010, Fuel Cell Block Diagram, accessed 6 February 2024, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuel_Cell_Block_Diagram.svg>.

This article is a part of the class “751447 SEM IN CUR ECON PROB”

supervised by

Asst. Prof. Napon Hongsakulvasu

Faculty of Economics,

Chiang Mai University

This article was written by 641615523 Yuchen Luo