2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of microbial Fuel Cells(MFCs) for Wastewatertreatment and energy recovery

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23656324
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Civil and environmental engineering
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	OKABE Satoshi 北海道大学, 大学院・工学研究院, 教授 (10253816)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	バイオ燃料電池 / プロトン供給
Research Abstract	The goal of this study was to improve the MFCperformance (wastewater treatment and power generation) by enhanching the the cathode reaction of air-cathode MFC. To enhance the cathode reaction, we examined trhe effect of external proton supply by introducing the gas containing various concentrations of CO 2 and humidity to the cathode chamber. In addition, we could estimate quantitatively contribution of proton sources consumed by cathode reaction of air-cathode MFCs. Carbonate dissolution was a main proton source and water shortage was the most critical problem of cathode- reaction limitation. Finally, these results could suggest importance of adjustment of CO 2 content and humidity.