Current generation in membraneless single chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) treating urine
By Santoro, Carlo; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; Greenman, John; Cristiani, Pierangela; Vadas, Timothy; Mackay, Allison & Li, Baikun
Published in Journal of Power Sources
2013
Abstract
This study investigated a novel treatment process for human urine in membraneless single-chamber microbial fuel cells (SCMFCs). The performances of SCMFCs with Pt-based or Pt-free cathode were tested for over 1000Â hours of operation. The pH of the anodic solution increased from 5.4–6.4 to 9.0 due to the urea hydrolysis, which consequently decreased the anodic performance even though the cathode was not affected, indicating that the MFCs were anode-limited. The solution conductivity increased up to 3 times the initial value. The initial current generated by the Pt-free cathodes SCMFCs was 0.13–0.15Â mA, and stabilized at 0.1Â mA. The Pt-based cathode SCMFC decreased from 0.18–0.23Â mA to 0.13Â mA. This study showed that high pH caused by urea hydrolysis lowered the anodic reactions and the SCMFCs overall performance. The Pt-free cathode performance was comparable to that of Pt-based cathodes, thus offering a cost effective alternative for future developments.