ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Effect of Using Various Cathode Materials (Carbon Felt, Ni-Co, Cu-B, and Cu-Ag) on the Operation of Microbial Fuel Cell
 
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Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Opole, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2023-12-13
 
 
Final revision date: 2024-01-22
 
 
Acceptance date: 2024-01-27
 
 
Online publication date: 2024-02-01
 
 
Publication date: 2024-02-01
 
 
Corresponding author
Paweł Piotr Włodarczyk   

Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Opole, Poland
 
 
Civil and Environmental Engineering Reports 2023;33(4):95-105
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Wastewater has high potential as an energy source. Therefore, it is important to recover even the smallest part of this energy, e.g., in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The obtained electricity production depends on the process rate of the electrodes. In MFC, the microorganisms are the catalyst of anode, and the cathode is usually made of carbon material. To increase the MFC efficiency it is necessary to search the new cathode materials. In this work, the electricity production from yeast wastewater in membrane-less microbial fuel cells with a carbon felt, Ni-Co, Cu-B, and Cu-Ag cathodes has been analyzed. In the first place, the measurements of the stationary potential of the electrodes (with Cu-Ag catalyst obtained by the electrochemical deposition technique) were performed. Next, the analysis of the electric energy production during the operation of the membrane-less microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC). The highest parameters were obtained for the Ni-Co and Cu-Ag catalysts. The cell voltage of 607 mV for Ni-Co and 605 mV for Cu-Ag was obtained. Additionally, the power of 4.29 mW for both cathodes - Ni-Co and Cu-Ag was obtained. Moreover, Ni-Co and Cu-Ag allow the shortest time of COD reduction. Based on the test results (with selected MFC design, wastewater, temperature, etc.), it can be concluded that of all the analyzed electrodes, Cu-Ag and Ni-Co electrodes have the best parameters for use as cathodes in ML-MFC. However, based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that all the tested electrodes can be used as cathode material in MFC.
 
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