Electricity and catholyte production from ceramic MFCS treating urine

Merino-Jimenez, Irene; Greenman, John; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer a promising technology for electricity production. In the anodic chamber, an anaerobic biofilm breaks down the organic compounds present in the urine to generate electricity. In the cathodic chamber, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) contributes to the catholyte generation, together with the electroosmotic drag and the diffusion through the ceramic membrane. This work evaluates the effect of the thickness of a ceramic membrane, in the power generation, as well as for the first time study the catholyte produced from the MFCs using urine as a feedstock. Cylindrical MFCs were assembled with fine fire clay of different thicknesses (2.5, 5 and 10 mm). The power and the amount of catholyte decreased with the wall thickness, whereas the pH of the catholyte increased. The possibility to produce different quality of catholyte from urine opens a new field of study in water reuse for practical implementations.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Proceedings of the 6th European Fuel Cell - Piero Lunghi Conference, EFC 2015
• Start Date: Dec 16, 2015
• End Date: Dec 18, 2015
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2015
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2020
• Pages: 311-312
• Book Title: Proceedings of the 6th European Fuel Cell - Piero Lunghi Conference, EFC 2015
• ISBN: 9788882863241
• Keywords: Catholyte production, Ceramic membrane, Electroosmotic drag, Microbial fuel cell (MFC)
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6834871
• Publisher URL: https://www.enea.it/it/seguici/pubblicazioni/pdf-volumi/proceedings_EFC15_web.pdf