Overview on the developments of microbial fuel cells

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

V. B. Oliveira (Author) FEUP; M. Simões (Author) FEUP; L. F. Melo (Author) FEUP; A. M. F. R. Pinto (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Biochemical Engineering Journal

Vol. 73 No. 5 April 2013

Pages: 53-64

ISSN: 1369-703X

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 164 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 242 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Chemical engineering

Associated Projects

UI0511 - PROJECTO ESTRATÉGICO - UI 511 - 2013-2014

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-005-1K3

DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2013.01.012

Abstract (EN): Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a promising technology for electricity production from a variety of materials, such as natural organic matter, complex organic waste or renewable biomass, and can be advantageously combined with applications in wastewater treatment. The problem with MFCs is that they are technically still very far from attaining acceptable levels of power output, since the performance of this type of fuel cells is affected by limitations based on irreversible reactions and processes occurring both on the anode and cathode side. However, in the last years, there has been a growing amount of work on MFCs which managed to increase power outputs by an order of magnitude. The present review article discusses a number of biological and engineering aspects related to improvement of MFC performance including the effect of important parameters, such as pH, temperature, feed rate, shear stress and organic load. The recent progresses on scale-up MFC are summarized and the different modelling approaches to describe the different biological and transport phenomena in MFCs are also provided.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12