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Recent Progress Towards Scaling Up of MFCs

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Microbial Fuel Cell

Abstract

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an advanced bioelectrochemical system for treatment of wastewater which transforms chemical energy available in the organic matter present in wastewater directly into electrical output using electrochemical active bacteria (EAB) as a biocatalyst without causing any harmful effects (Logan 2008). At the anode in anodic chamber, EAB convert biologically oxidizable organic matter into carbon dioxide, protons and electrons (Fig. 23.1a). Electrons (e−) are travelled to the anode electrode and further passed to the cathode through an electrical circuit. Protons (H+) are exchanged from anodic chamber to cathodic chamber through a CEM by cation exchange capacity of membrane. In cathodic chamber, the protons and electrons combine with oxygen to form water as an end product during reduction reaction.

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Acknowledgement

Grants received from Department of Science and Technology (File No. DST/INT/UK/P-101/2014), Government of India to undertake this work is duly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Water Resources, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Dipak A. Jadhav

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Makarand M. Ghangrekar

  3. Industrial Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, University Politechnica of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania

    Narcis Duteanu

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  1. Dipak A. Jadhav
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  2. Makarand M. Ghangrekar
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  3. Narcis Duteanu
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Correspondence to Narcis Duteanu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

    Debabrata Das

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Jadhav, D.A., Ghangrekar, M.M., Duteanu, N. (2018). Recent Progress Towards Scaling Up of MFCs. In: Das, D. (eds) Microbial Fuel Cell. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66793-5_23

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