TY - JOUR
T1 - Anolyte recirculation effects in buffered and unbuffered single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cells
AU - Zhang, Liang
AU - Zhu, Xun
AU - Kashima, Hiroyuki
AU - Li, Jun
AU - Ye, Ding ding
AU - Liao, Qiang
AU - Regan, John M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Two identical microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with a floating air-cathode were operated under either buffered (MFC-B) or bufferless (MFC-BL) conditions to investigate anolyte recirculation effects on enhancing proton transfer. With an external resistance of 50. Ω and recirculation rate of 1.0. ml/min, MFC-BL had a 27% lower voltage (9.7% lower maximal power density) but a 64% higher Coulombic efficiency (CE) than MFC-B. MFC-B had a decreased voltage output, batch time, and CE with increasing recirculation rate resulting from more oxygen transfer into the anode. However, increasing the recirculation rate within a low range significantly enhanced proton transfer in MFC-BL, resulting in a higher voltage output, a longer batch time, and a higher CE. A further increase in recirculation rate decreased the batch time and CE of MFC-BL due to excess oxygen transfer into anode outweighing the proton-transfer benefits. The unbuffered MFC had an optimal recirculation rate of 0.35. ml/min.
AB - Two identical microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with a floating air-cathode were operated under either buffered (MFC-B) or bufferless (MFC-BL) conditions to investigate anolyte recirculation effects on enhancing proton transfer. With an external resistance of 50. Ω and recirculation rate of 1.0. ml/min, MFC-BL had a 27% lower voltage (9.7% lower maximal power density) but a 64% higher Coulombic efficiency (CE) than MFC-B. MFC-B had a decreased voltage output, batch time, and CE with increasing recirculation rate resulting from more oxygen transfer into the anode. However, increasing the recirculation rate within a low range significantly enhanced proton transfer in MFC-BL, resulting in a higher voltage output, a longer batch time, and a higher CE. A further increase in recirculation rate decreased the batch time and CE of MFC-BL due to excess oxygen transfer into anode outweighing the proton-transfer benefits. The unbuffered MFC had an optimal recirculation rate of 0.35. ml/min.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.11.106
DO - 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.11.106
M3 - Article
C2 - 25514399
AN - SCOPUS:84916880952
SN - 0960-8524
VL - 179
SP - 26
EP - 34
JO - Bioresource technology
JF - Bioresource technology
ER -
