Electricity generation using an air-cathode single chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) in the absence of a proton exchange membrane

An air cathode single chamber MFC without a proton exchange membrane (PEM) was developed, expecting that the energy output could increase and the naturally formed biofilm on cathode surface could function as the PEM. In this system, power generation from domestic wastewater, glucose, acetate, and butyrate was studied. The results were compared with those using the MFC containing PEM. The absence of a PEM and the use of the air cathode resulted in an order of magnitude or more higher power densities for all defined substrates and the domestic wastewater (146 mw/sq m using 1000 Ω, five times higher than using MFC with PEM). This further increased the possibility of applying MFC technology for wastewater treatment due to the higher power output but lower costs. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA 8/22-26/2004).