Microbial Fuel Cell-An Overview

Author:-Kishan Jadav, Dhiren Prajapati, Vishv Patel

Abstract
Microbes are one of the smallest living organisms which are under research for their different
application in various fields, microbial fuel cell is one major application of microorganisms,
currently this bio electrochemical technique used to study bacteria-metal interaction.

Microbial fuel cell use microorganism & their enzyme system to convert chemical energy to
electrical energy , but still in the research stage it has some technical difficulties like toxic product
accumulation , inconsistent conversion in electricity due to temperature & electrolyte restrictions
, but it has capacity to yield energy efficiency equivalent to conventional fuel cells , this paper
discuss about current microbial fuel cell technology, technical problems and recent development
in the field of microbial fuel cell

Introduction:-
Microbial fuel cell, further in paper referred
as MFC is a bio-electrochemical system
which converts the chemical energy of
organic inorganic substances in to electrical
energy with help of microbes, this field
requires knowledge of multiple fields like
biotechnology, Electrochemical, material
Science and Environmental Engineering. .
As the conventional energy resources are
depleting , scientist are concentrating more
on renewables & environment friendly
resources like MFC , as it is bio
electrochemical system no combustion and
applications like waste water treatment Bio
hydrogen Production & Generation of
electricity from organic & Inorganic matters
Is the things which draws interests of scientist
towards MFC.
MFCs have very good advantages as it is
clean, renewable & energy efficient as it has
Columbic efficiency (up to 90%) for
electricity generation, and up to 60%
Efficiency in wastewater treatment [1]. But
as MFC still in research stage it has
disadvantages like inconsistent current
production, expensive due to costly parts
which needed to be solved.
This paper describes about microbial fuel
cell, its configuration and working & focuses
on Dual bioreactor it also explains the
secondary application of microbial fuel cell
 Fig 1. Schematic of Microbial Fuel Cell[2]
like mineral extraction, bio sensors, waste water treatment.

Microbial Fuel Cell:-

MFCs are a device which uses microbes to membrane(CEM), which allows only Proton
oxidize organic and inorganic matter , the & cations to migrate from Anode to cathode
electron produced by this is transferred to , Electrons reach cathode and react with
Anode & CO2 formed due to Oxidation at protons to form Water.
anodic side and electrons flow towards
On Anode :- C2H4O2 + 2H2O 2CO2+8e- +8H+
cathode via conducting wire and both the
chambers are separated by a Proton exchange On Cathode :- 2O2+8H++8e- 4H2O
membrane(PEM) or cation exchange

Electron acceptted from substrate has to be
transfered to the anode through various
mechanisms like Nanowiers , Direct contact
& electron shuttles . MFC divided in to two
types on basis of this mechanism of electron
transfer
Mediated MFC :- in this system Mediator is
present , this mediator crosses outer
membrane of cells and bacteria and begin to
liberate electron from substrate , once
reduced mediator with electron transfers its
electrons to Anode and oxidized to origin
state , some of the common mediators are replenished which requires more energy, so
neutral Red , Anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate not commercially viable.
, Methylene Blue and thionine [2].
II) Air Chamber:-
Non-Mediated MFC :-In non mediated MFC
As the two chamber MFC can’t be used for
,mediator is not needed to transfer the
wastewater treatment due to oxygenated
electrons to the electrode , micobes acting as
water, the new system is developed without
a biocatalyst send directly from enzyme
using aqueous cathode, in this system
sysyem of microbial wall to electrods by
cathode is porous and is used with or without
mechanism like eletric nano wire & the Pilli.
the PEM, so it reduces air directly, this helped
significantly and power output is increased
Configuration Of MFC:- up to 506 mW/m2 with(2) Acetate but
columbic efficiency decreased due to high
Different types of MFCs are developed today Oxygen diffusion in anode
for different purposes, they are characterized
by different properties like power output,
Columbic efficiency, stability, etc.; some
common types of MFC are listed below
I) two chamber MFC: -
this is the most common type in which anode
& cathode chamber are separated by a proton
exchange membrane, purpose of this
membrane is to separate the liquids and allow
protons to flow from anode to cathode & it
also decreases the oxygen diffusion, the
power output will be low as 2.2 mW/m2[2] ,
due to very high internal resistance. Fig2Schematic of Airchember Electrode
Generally Cathode used in this type of Other than this two configurations
reactors are Carbon electrode in water or researchers has also developed some other
Catalyzed carbon electrode in ferricynide configurations like
solution, But, in this case Platinum is used as
it is best Oxygen reduction catalyst, but it Up Flow Design: - jeng. At. Al. designed this
increases cost significantly which means type of a fuel cell which works on continuous
either the amount of Platinum on electrode mode, in this configuration cathode chamber
should be reduced or it should be replaced by is placed above an Anode chamber, so fluid
cheaper alternatives like Cobalt. will move through anode chamber and then
transferred to cathode chamber, the
The other system uses plain Graphite advantage of this configuration is that it
Electrode with K3Fe(CN)6 as an electron increases the affinity of oxygen which is
acceptor, in this system power density beneficial for both of wastewater treatment &
increased from 3.6- 4.3 w/m2 , but this system electricity Generation.
required oxygen to be continuously

Stacked MFC Cell:-MFC cells when
stacked in parallel by connecting the
electrodes by conducting wire, it exhibits
maximum bio electrochemical reaction rate,
which increases its Chemical Oxygen
Demand removal capacity in comparison to
single cell.
Sediment MFC: - In sediment MFC one
electrode is placed in sea water which is
oxygen rich, while other electrode is placed
in marine organism rich in organic matter and
minerals, graphite plate electrodes are used in
this system, protons conducted by sea water
can produce electricity of power density up to
28mW/m2 [2].
Material for Construction:-
The maximum open circuit voltage generated
by MFC is 1.14 V , with pure Oxygen (+0.82
V) & NADH (-0.32 V) [2], while neglecting
the internal losses , so selection of Anode
,Cathode ,Membrane & electrolyte plays a
very important role in performance of MFC
& commercial viability .
Anode:-
Anodic Material in MFC should be
conductive, compatible, chemically stable,
and low cost & should have a high
mechanical strength .generally carbon &
Fig. 3 (A) Up Flow MFC with Graphite bed
Anode at inner and Cathode on Outer side[2]
(E) MFC cells Stacked in parallel [2]
metal electrodes are used as an anode in
MFC.
Carbon electrodes are used mainly as anode
due to its high Redox Potential, availability
in abundance in different forms like Graphite
road & Sheet, Carbon tubes & Carbon cloth,
Glassy Carbon, in all this Graphite Brush
Anode is the best as it provide large surface
Area, high porosity [2].
MFCs use microorganisms to oxidize organic
matter and transfer electron to electrode this
microbes are known as Exoelectrogens due to
their electron transfer capacity outside their
cell Wall, some ex. of their species are
Geobacter, Shewanella, Pseudomonas,
Clostridium and Desulfuromonas[2].
Cathode :-
In MFC mostly Ferricynide ( K3[Fe(CN)6])
is used as it is good electron acceptor ,one
advantage of ferricynide is that it has low
overpotential which helps to bring cathodes
working potential to the open circuit voltage
,but the disadvantage of this system is that it
has insufficient reoxidation by Oxygen ,
requires replenishment in long term and its
toxic to MFC & Environment .
Theoretically oxygen is the most suitable
electron acceptor for MFC due to high
Oxidation potential, low Cost and Zero
Chemical Waste (H2O formed), to increase
the rate of reduction of Oxygen catalyst like Substrat Concentrati Power MFC
Pt used, scientist try to keep cost of MFC as e on(mg/L) output(m desig
low as possible, by keeping low volume of Pt. W/m2) n
Acetate 800 506 Singl
In recent times scientist has developed a e-
biocathode , in this system Photosyynthetic cham
organism is used as a biocatalyst having ber
good oxygenator Potential , this Glucose 500-3000 3600 Two-
Photosynthetic organism uses a light and Cha
reduces Oxygen which increases power mber
Butyrate 1000 305 Singl
generation up to 42 %[5} , this biotic cathode
e-
also stops oxygen depletion and gives cham
sustainable MFC design . ber
Domesti 210-220 26 Singl
Substrate:- c e-
Substrate is very important part of MFC ass wastewa cham
it serve as an energy source, it also affect ter ber
Artificial 300-3400 170 Up-
microbes capacity to oxidize substrate,
wastewa flow
growth of microbes on anodic bio-film,
ter MFC
Power density & current generation[2] , so it Swine 8320 ± 190 261 Singl
is important to choose a substrate on basis of wastewa e
its usage & application . ter Cha
mber
Substrates from different catagories like
Carboxy 1000 143 Two-
fermentable substrate (Glucose , methyl Cha
Xylose,Sucrose ),Non Fermentable cellulose mber
Substrates (Acetate ,Butyrate ), Complex Table : Power output with different substrates
Products like Domestic Waste water& Food under different operational conditions[3]
Process Waste water .

Secondary Applications:- treatment, this technique is quick, but it

Waste water treatment:-
Currently Activated sludge process is used in
most part of the world for waste water
requires chemicals, high energy incentive
and has high maintenance and operational
cost.
 Fig.4 Schematic of MFC used in waste water treatment [4]
MFC can provide a Clean electrical energy products of fermentation required additional
directly from organic matters present in energy for its conversion in H2,
waste water, gases like methane & hydrogen
MFC can also be used to generate hydrogen
can also be produced by MFC, mandatory
by modifying its design as by applying some
they are separated initially, MFC only use
external electricity & removal of Oxygen at
0.024-0.076 kWh/Kg-COD in comparison to
Cathode , this new system is known as
activated sludge process which consumes
Microbial Electrolysis Cell(MEC) ,
0.45-0.6 KWh/Kg-COD and it can produce
efficiency of MFC system is quite more when
up 1.43 kWh/m3 from a primary sludge or 1.8
compare to other methods of hydrogen
kWh/m3[4] from a treated effluent .
production ,MEC system produces 8-9 mole
As MFC system has exoelectrogenic H2/Mole of Glucose , while fermentation
bacteria, when they interact with wastewater produces only 4-5 mole H2/ Mole of
they oxidize them and convert them in to final Glucose[3] .
product as direct electricity or methane,
But the problem with this system was its cost
ethanol & hydrogen according to MFCs
, which increased significantly when it scaled
design, acetate when used as a substrate the
up due to external electricity provided which
cell produced cell EMF of 1.094 V [4] in
has a huge part in cost , the solution of this
laboratory.
problem came in form of Modern coupling of
Hydrogen Production:- MFC-MEC Cell , here MFC cell provide a
electricity to MEC which then generate
Currently hydrogen are mainly produced by Hydrogen gas .
Electrolysis & Fermentation process , both
of this process has a low efficiency and

Fig 5. Schematic of MEC Cell
Bio-sensor:-
MFC Cell can also be used as a sensor in
wastewater treatment plant , because of
proportionality between Coulombic
efficiency of cell & biological Oxygen
demand (BOD) of water , with high presence
of organic matter there in waste water , BOD
will be higher which will be converted to
electrical energy by mfc .
MFC Cell without mediator ,
electrochemically active & microbes of cell
having good metal reducing capacity is
preferable for biosensor & the data provided
by the MFC is accurate & highly precise .
Limitations of MFC :-
Expensive: - still MFC cells are costly due to
usage of precious metal like Platinum as a
Catalyst, alternates available not have
oxygen reducing capacity compare to
Platinum, ideal catalyst should be cost
effective & reliable, anode
Low Power Density: - When MFC system
scaled up the power density decreases
significantly, due to low Coulombic
efficiency, this problem can be solved by
stacking of MFC in series and improving
substrate quality.
Inconsistent Electricity Production: - this
is due to variation in concentration of
microbes, some microbes grow by
Photosynthesis and works better in presence
of sunlight, so in dark the concentration
decreases and final electric current will
change.
High Internal Resistance:-Design like two
chambers has very high internal resistance,
which significantly affect final Power output
Low Efficiency :- Standard MFC can
generate maximum attainable EMF of 1.1V
[2], this is still very low in comparison to
conventional Fuel Cells like Alkaline Fuel
cell have efficiency from 30-70 %
Conclusion:-
Microbial Fuel Cell is a very promising
technology but it’s still in research stage ,as
we see through this paper it uses
exoelectrogenic microbes to convert
chemical of energy in to electrical energy
,study of this field requiers knowledge of
multiple fields like microbiology &
Electrochemistry , but then also research
work in this field for enhancement in Power
output , Change in design of system
according to application , new applications
provided growth to the field and solved many
problems .
But Still field face many problems like
inconsistency in electricity, High internal
resistance, low Scale up feasibility,
expensive components & less Mobility which
needed to be solved to make MFC more
energy efficient and commercially viable, in
future MFC can be used with other systems
to provide energy in different applications.
References:-
[1] Richard S. Berk , James H. Canfield,” Bioelectrical Energy Conversion “,Applied
Microbiology,Vol.12,No. 1,pp.10-12,January 1964.
[2] Pruce E. Logan, Bert Hanless,”Microbial Fuel Cells: Methdology & Technology
“,Environmental Science & Technology ,pp.5181-5193,July 2006.
[3] Prakash A.,”Microbial Fuel Cells : A Source of Bioenergy “, Jemicrot biochem Technol
,Vol.8,pp.247-255,2016.
[4] V.G Gude ,” Wastewater treatment in Microbial Fuel Cells-An Overview “,Journal of Cleaner
Production , February 2016.
[5] Iwona Gajda, John Greenman, “Photosynthetic Cathodes for Microbial Fuel Cells “,
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2013.