Performance variation according to anode-embedded orientation in a sediment microbial fuel cell employing a chessboard-like hundred-piece anode

Junyeong An; Jonghyun Nam; Bongkyu Kim; Hyung-Sool Lee; Byung Hong Kim; In Seop Chang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.071

Performance variation according to anode-embedded orientation in a sediment microbial fuel cell employing a chessboard-like hundred-piece anode

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Aug:190:175-81. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.071. Epub 2015 Apr 28.

Authors

Junyeong An¹, Jonghyun Nam², Bongkyu Kim², Hyung-Sool Lee³, Byung Hong Kim⁴, In Seop Chang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
⁴ Fuel Cell Institute, National University of Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia; Bioelectrochemistry Laboratory, Water Environment and Remediation Research Centre, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 25941759
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.071

Abstract

The effect of two different anode-embedding orientations, lengthwise- and widthwise-embedded anodes was explored, on the performance of sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) using a chessboard anode. The maximum current densities and power densities in SMFCs having lengthwise-embedded anodes (SLA1-SLA10) varied from 38.2mA/m(2) to 121mA/m(2) and from 5.5mW/m(2) to 20mW/m(2). In comparison, the maximum current densities and maximum power densities in SMFCs having anodes widthwise-embedded between 0cm to 8cm (SWA2-SWA5) increased from 82mA/m(2) to 140mA/m(2) and from 14.7mW/m(2) to 31.1mW/m(2) as the anode depth became deeper. Although there was a difference in the performance among SWA5-SWA10, it was considered negligible. Hence, it is concluded that it is important to embed anodes widthwise at the specific anode depths, in order to improve of SMFC performance. Chessboard anode used in this work could be a good option for the determination of optimal anode depths.

Keywords: Anode depth; Anode design; Optimal depth; Sediment microbial fuel cell.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources / microbiology*
Electric Conductivity
Electrodes*
Energy Transfer*
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Geologic Sediments / microbiology*
Soil Microbiology*