Impact of feedstock dilution on the performance of urine-fed ceramic and membrane-less microbial fuel cell cascades designs

Walter, Xavier Alexis; You, Jiseon; Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

Recent advancements in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) field have led to the deployment of pilot-scale autonomous sanitation systems converting the organic content of urine into electricity to power lights in decentralised areas. Two designs have been deployed successfully, namely ceramic cylinder based MFCs (c-MFC) and membrane-less self-stratifying MFCs (s-MFC), but only one research has tested simultaneously these two designs under similar conditions. To complement this single study, the present work investigated the response of these two designs to the dilution of feedstock. Both designs were assembled as cascades, a configuration close to the conditions of implementation. The tested conditions were 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% urine diluted with tap water. Results have shown that under the 100% condition (neat urine), the s-MFC had a higher energy output (2.29 ± 0.04 kJ d−1) and treatment (4.16 ± 0.15 gCOD.d−1; 1.39 ± 0.15 gNH4.d−1) than the c-MFC. Under the 25% condition, the c-MFC had a higher energy output (0.75 ± 0.04 kJ d−1) but a lower treatment (0.40 ± 0.05 gCOD.d−1; 0.01 ± 0.02 gNH4.d−1) than the s-MFC. Both type of cascade designs could be fed a 75% concentration feedstock for a week without a significant performance decrease. Overall, the c-MFC cascade had higher energy conversion efficiency and the s-MFC had higher power generating performance.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 14, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 26, 2023
• Publication Date: Mar 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 18, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Power Sources
• Print ISSN: 0378-7753
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 561
• Issue: 30
• Pages: 232708
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.232708
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Physical and Theoretical Chemistry; Energy Engineering and Power Technology; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10446231
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775323000836?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Impact of feedstock dilution on the performance of urine-fed ceramic and membrane-less microbial fuel cell cascades designs; Journal Title: Journal of Power Sources; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.232708; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.