[Influence of buffer solutions on the performance of microbial fuel cell electricity generation]

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a potential green technology due to its application in wastewater treatment and renewable energy generation. Phosphate buffer solution (PBS) has been commonly used in MFC studies to maintain a suitable pH for electricity generating bacteria and/or to increase the solution conductivity. However, it has some drawbacks using PBS in MFC: One is that the addition of a high concentration of phosphate buffer in MFCs is expensive, especially for the application in wastewater treatment; the other is that phosphates can contribute to the eutrophication conditions of water bodies if the effluents are discharged without the removal of phosphates. By adding PBS buffer as the comparison, the study investigated the effect of borax buffer and in the absence of buffer on the performance of electrical power, coulomb efficiency and effluent pH. 200 mmol/L PBS was the best, conductivity was 1.973 mS/cm,the maximum power density was 36.4 mW/m2 and the maximum coulomb efficiency was 2.92%, effluent pH was almost at (7.00 +/- 0.05). 100 mmol/L borax buffer solution, conductivity was 1.553 mS/cm; the maximum power density was 26.2 mW/m2 coulomb efficiency of 6.26%, which was 2.14 times to PBS and greatly increased the electron recovery efficiency with the effluent pH was (7.35 +/- 0.05). While free buffer solution conductivity was 0.314 mS/cm, maximum power density was 27.64 mW/m2; coulomb efficiency was 2.82% and the effluent pH of approximately 7.43. The electrolyte which in absence of buffer solution conductivity was 1/6 of adding PBS buffer, 1/5 of borax buffer, while its power density lower 8.76 mW/mr2 than adding PBS and higher 1.24 mW/m2 than borax buffer. The results showed that adding the suitable concentration of borax buffer may improve the electron recovery efficiency and under batch conditions, MFC run successfully without adding buffer solution to MFC.