Study on energy conversion performance of anaerobic microbial fluidized bed hydrogen-electricity co-generation system

This work introduces an anaerobic microbial multiphase fluidized hydrogen-electricity cogeneration reactor (AFB-DFMFC) integrating microbial fuel cells (MFC) and dark fermentation (DF) within an anaerobic fluidized bed. Utilizing activated carbon and modified polypropylene particles as carriers for electrogenic and hydrogen-producing microbes, respectively, the system achieved synergistic bioenergy recovery and wastewater treatment. Under continuous flow, the reactor demonstrated a hydrogen yield of 1.39 mol H₂/mol glucose, with volatile fatty acids from DF enhancing MFC performance, yielding a peak power density of 2311.25 mW/m². The system attained an overall energy conversion efficiency of 20.6 % and 89.9 % COD removal, confirming its efficacy in concurrent bioenergy generation and organic degradation. This integrated approach highlights the technical viability of AFB-DFMFC for scalable wastewater-based energy recovery systems.