Chemical Engineering Journal
Chemical Engineering Journal
5 years ago

Investigation of a two-dimensional model on microbial fuel cell with different biofilm porosities and external resistances

Investigation of a two-dimensional model on microbial fuel cell with different biofilm porosities and external resistances
To discuss the internal mass distribution in microbial fuel cell (MFC), a transient, two-dimensional model for single-chamber, air cathode MFC was developed in this work. This model was established by finite element method considering two kinds of microorganisms’ growth, internal mass transfer and bio-electrochemical kinetics. The heterogeneous chemical components distribution in the anode chamber, the growth and spatial distribution of exoelectrogens and methanogens were discussed. The effect of biofilm porosity and external resistance on the electron transfer from redox mediator to the anode, microorganism growth and electricity generation performance in MFC was investigated. Simulation results revealed that the exoelectrogens and methanogens concentrations distributed heterogeneously with different biofilm porosities. Higher biofilm porosity was beneficial to final electron transfer step and had different impact on electricity generation at start-up and steady stage, respectively. Lower external resistances contributed to enhancing MFC performance. Our model should be helpful for the optimization of the design and operation conditions in MFCs.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S1385894717316972

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.