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Effect of composites based nickel foam anode in microbial fuel cell using Acetobacter aceti and Gluconobacter roseus
Rengasamy Karthikeyan1, Navanietha Krishnaraj2, Ammaiyappan Selvam3
1Electrodics and Electrocatalysis (EEC) Division, Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi 630 006, Tamil Nadu, India; Ability R&D Energy Research Center, School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Sino-Forest Applied Research Centre for Pearl River Delta Environment, Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
This study explores the use of materials such as chitosan (chit), polyaniline (PANI) and titanium carbide (TC) as anode materials for microbial fuel cells. Nickel foam (NF) was used as the base anode substrate. Four different types of anodes (NF, NF/PANI, NF/PANI/TC, NF/PANI/TC/Chit) are thus prepared and used in batch type microbial fuel cells operated with a mixed consortium of Acetobacter aceti and Gluconobacter roseus as the biocatalysts and bad wine as a feedstock. A maximum power density of 18.8Wm(-3) (≈2.3 times higher than NF) was obtained in the case of the anode modified with a composite of PANI/TC/Chit. The MFCs running under a constant external resistance of (50Ω) yielded 14.7% coulombic efficiency with a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 87-93%. The overall results suggest that the catalytic materials embedded in the chitosan matrix show the best performance and have potentials for further development.
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