Mediatorless Microbial Fuel Cell with Nafion–115 and Salt bridge as Proton Exchange Membrane

E. Elanthamilan; J. Princy Merlin; L. Sarala; A. Sathiyan

Volume : IV, Issue : VIII, August - 2014

Mediatorless Microbial Fuel Cell with Nafion–115 and Salt bridge as Proton Exchange Membrane

E. Elanthamilan, J. Princy Merlin, L. Sarala, A. Sathiyan,

Abstract :

A double chambered microbial fuel cell with slaughter house waste water as a substrate was optimized in terms of various operating conditions. The study was carried out using both salt idge and Nafion–115 memane as proton exchange system. The dependence of power output on operating conditions like time, pH, temperature and kinds of electrode was also investigated. The voltage produced in the MFC was found to increase linearly with time. The maximum voltage of 0.5V was observed in the MFC setup where Nafion–115 memane was used with carbon rod as the electrodes, at the pH of 7.3 and at the room temperature of 30^oC.   With salt idge as proton exchanger, the output voltage was observed to be only 0.22V. Hence mediatorless MFC operating at ambient conditions with Nafion–115 is emphasized as the eco–friendly model for bioelectricity generation and slaughter house wastewater treatment. 