Investigation of bioelectricity production in dual chamber microbial fuel cell by mixed culture as active biocatalyst

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an electrochemical device that can directly convert chemical energy of organic and inorganic materials to bioelectricity. The reduction of substances in anode compartment was catalyzed by the living cells in such as microorganisms or enzymes. In this study power generation was studied in mediator-less MFC. The polarity technique was used to characterize the electrical performance of the fabricated MFC. Glucose was used as electron donors and anaerobic effluent of wastewater treatment plant was selected as inoculums. The produced electrons are transported to anode surfaces and protons are moved through proton exchange membrane toward cathode. Nafion 117 was implemented to transfer of produced protons from anode to cathode chamber. The substrate consumption and cell growth was monitored for the incubation period. Maximum generated power and current densities were 186 mW.m-2 and 1078 mA.m-2, respectively. The generated power in the microbial fuel cell was monitored and power production was quite stable for the duration of 100 hours.