Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Performance of Cathode Catalysts for Bio-Electricity from Paper Recycling, Wastewater-Fed, Microbial Fuel Cells


Affiliations
1 Anna University, Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
2 Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
 

This work deals with the performance of a microbial fuel cell, focusing on the electrocatalytic activity of selected cathodes constructed by coating nanocomposites over graphite felt under neutral pH in a doublechamber configuration using paper-recycled waste water as a typical electrolyte. Among all cathodes, iron phthalocyanine (FePc) combined multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) shows the highest power density (9.34 W/m2) compared to other two catalysts, FePc/Ketjan black (4.68 W/m2) and MWCNT (2.9 W/m2) under similar conditions of using a reference platinum/carbon (Pt/C) loading of 0.5 mg/cm2. The morphology of these catalyst coated electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Their electrocatalytic activities were examined using cyclic voltammetry. This work provides an appropriate alternative for cathode catalysts in treatment as well as in electricity production as demonstrated by the high power density of the above catalysts compared to that using precious Pt metal catalyst in microbial fuel cells.

Keywords

Iron Phthalocyanine, Microbial Fuel Cell, Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes, Oxygen Reduction Rate, Paper Recycling Wastewater.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Geetha, K. and Amal Raj, S., Influence of cathode electron acceptors and anode microbes improving electricity generation in dual-chambered microbial fuel cells using distillery wastewater. Asian J. Microbiol., Biotechnol. Environ. Sci., 2013, 15(4), 163–168.

  • Kalugasalam, P. and Ganesan, S., Surface morphology of annealed lead phthalocyanine thin films. Int. J. Eng. Sci. Technol., 2010, 2, 1773–1779.

  • Logan, B. E. and Haung, L., Electricity generation and treatment of paper recycling wastewater using microbial fuel cell. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2008, 80, 349–355.

  • Jang, J. K., Pham, T. H., Chang, I. S., Kang, K.-H., Moon, H., Cho, K. S. and Kim, B. H., Construction and operation of a novel mediator and membrane less MFC. Process Biochem., 2004, 39, 1007–1012.

  • Velasquez-orta, S. B., Factors affecting current production in MFC using different industrial wastewater. Bioresour. Technol., 2011, 102, 5105–5112.

  • Das, D., Mohan, S. and Muthukumar, Electricity generation using Microbial fuel cell. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2008, 33, 423–426.

  • Lovely, D. R. and Bond, D. R., Electricity by production Geobacter sulfurreducens attached to electrodes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 2003, 69, 1548–1555.

  • Alterman, P., Rabaey, Pham, K., Boon, T. H. and Verstraete, N. W., Continuous electricity generation at high voltages and current using staked microbial fuel cell. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2006, 10, 3388–3394.

  • Dharmalingam, S., Ayyaru, S., Letchoumanane, P. and Stanislaus, A. R., Performance of sulfonated polystyrene-ethylene-butylenepolystyrene membrane in microbial fuel cell for bioelectricity production. J. Power Sources, 2012, 217, 204–208.

  • Min, B., Cheng, S. and Logan, B. E., Electricity generation using membrane and salt bridge microbial fuel cells. Water Res., 2005, 39, 942–952.

  • Kim, B. H., Gil, G. C., Chang, I. S., Kim, M., Jang, J. Y. and Park, H. S., Operational parameters affecting the performance of a mediatorless microbial fuel cell. Biosens. Bioelectron., 2003, 18, 327–334.

  • Yuan, Y., Zhao, B., Jeon, Y., Zhong, S. and Kim, S., Iron Phthalocyanine supported on amino-functionalised multiwalled carbon nanotubes as an alternative cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cell. Bioresour. Technol., 2011, 102, 5849–5854.

  • Chandra, A. and Singh, I., Need for optimizing catalyst loading for achieving affordable microbial fuel cells. Bioresour. Technol., 2013, 147, 77–81.

  • Li, X., Zhu, N., Wang, Y., Li, P., Wu, P. and Wu, J., Animal carcass wastewater treatment and bioelectricity generation in upflow tubular microbial fuel cells: effects of HRT and non-precious metallic catalyst. Bioresour. Technol., 2013, 128, 454–460.

  • Lu, M., Guo, L., Karkwal, S., Wu, H., Ng, H. Y. and Li, S. F. Y., Manganese-polypyrrole-carbon nanotube, a new oxygen reduction catalyst for air-cathode microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources, 2013, 221, 381–386.

  • Logan, B. E. and Zhu, K., Using single–chamber microbial fuel cells as renewable sources of electro-fenton reactors for organic pollutant treatment. J. Hazard. Mater., 2013, 198–203.

  • Lai, B., Wang, P., Li, H., Du, Z., Wang, L. and Bi, S., Calcined polyaniline-iron composite as a high efficient cathodic catalyst in microbial fuel cells. Bioresour. Technol., 2013, 131, 321–324.

  • Ma, J. F., Wang, J. and Liu, Y. N., Iron phthalocyanine as a cathode catalyst for a direct borohydride fuel cell. J. Power Sources, 2007, 172, 220–224.

  • Schroder, U., Zhao, F., Harnisch, F., Scholz, F., Bogdanoff, P. and Herrmann, I., Application of pyrolysed iron(II) phthalocyanine and CoTMPP based oxygen reduction catalysts as cathode materials in microbial fuel cells. Electrochem. Commun., 2005, 7, 1405–1410.

  • Kim, S., Ahmed, J., Yuan, Y. and Zhou, L., Carbon supported cobalt oxide nanoparticles iron phthalocyanine as alternative cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction in microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources, 2012, 208, 170–175.

  • Tartakovsky, B., Birry, L., Mehta, P., Jaouen, F., Dodelet, J. P. and Guiot, S. R., Application of iron-based cathode catalysts in a microbial fuel cell. Electrochim. Acta, 2011, 56, 1505–1511.

  • Yuan, Y., Ahmed, J. and Kim, S., Polyaniline carbon black compositesupported iron phthalocyanine as an oxygen reduction catalyst for microbial fuel cells. J. Power Sources, 2011, 196, 1103-1106.

  • Shen, F. S., Ye, J. S., Wen, Y., Zhang, W. D., Cui, H. F. and Xu, G. Q., Electrochemical bio sensing platforms using phthalocyaninefunctionalized carbon nanotube electrode. Electro-analysis, 2005, 17, 89–96.

  • Muhler, M. et al., Electrocatalytic activity and stability of nitrogencontaining carbon nanotubes in the oxygen reduction reaction. J. Phys. Chem., 2009, 113, 14302–14310.

  • Yu, E. H., Cheng, S., Scott, K. and Logan, B., Microbial fuel cell with non-platinum catalyst. J. Power Sources, 2007, 171, 275–281.

  • Limson, J., Mshoperi, E. and Foge, R., Application of carbon black and iron phthalocyanine composites in bioelectricity production at a brewery wastewater fed microbial fuel cell. Electrochim. Acta, 2014, 128, 311–317.

  • Amal Raj, S., Joycelin Leebana, V., Santhanam, H. and Geetha, K., Biodegradation of direct golden yellow, a textile dye by Pseudomonas putida. Desalination Water Treat., 2012, 39, 1–9.

  • Greenberg, A. E., Clesceri, L. S. and Eaton, A. D., Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health Association (APHA), Washington DC, 1998, 20th edn.

  • Paulina Canute, J., Silva, F. and Jose, H., Electrocatalytic activity for O2 reduction of unsubstituted and perchlorinated iron phthalocyanines adsorbed on amino-terminated multiwalled carbon nanotubes deposited on glassy carbon electrodes. J. Chil. Chem. Soc., 2014, 59.

  • Oh, S. E. and Logan, B. E., Proton exchange membrane electrode surface area as factors that affect power generation to MFC. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2006, 70, 162–169.

  • Feng, Y., Yang, Q., Wang, X. and Logan, B. E., Treatment of carbon brush anodes for improving in air cathode MFC. J. Power Sources, 2010, 195, 1841–1844.

  • Zhu, J., Jia, N., Yang, L., Su, D., Park, J., Choi, Y. and Gong, K., Hetero junction nanowires having high activity and stability for the reduction of oxygen: formation by self-assembly of iron phthalocyanine with single walled carbon nanotubes (FePc/SWNTs). J. Colloid Interf. Sci., 2014, 419, 61–67.

  • Ghamesi, M. et al., Carbon nanotube as an alternative cathode support and catalyst for microbial fuel cells. Appl. Energy, 2013, 102, 1050–1056.

  • Dai, L., Gong, K., Du, F., Xia, Z. and Durstock, M., Nitrogendoped carbon nanotube arrays with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Science, 2009, 323, 760–764.

  • Lu, W. Y., Li, N., Chen, W. X. and Yao, Y. Y., The role of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in enhancing the catalytic activity of cobalt tetra-amino phthalocyanine for oxidation of conjugated dyes. Carbon, 2009, 47, 3337–3345.

  • Kamaraj, S.-K., Romano, S. M., Moreno, V. C., Poggi-Varaldo, H. M. and Solorza-Feria, O., Use of novel reinforced cation exchange membranes for microbial fuel cells. Electrochim. Acta, 2015, 176, 555–566.

  • Mohan, S. V., Mohanakrishna, G. and Sarma, P., Effect of anodic metabolic function on bioelectricity generation and substrate degradation in single chambered microbial fuel cell. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 42, 8088–8094.


Abstract Views: 383

PDF Views: 146




  • Performance of Cathode Catalysts for Bio-Electricity from Paper Recycling, Wastewater-Fed, Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract Views: 383  |  PDF Views: 146

Authors

M. Radha
Anna University, Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India
S. Kanmani
Center for Environmental Studies, Anna University, Sardar Patel Road, Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India

Abstract


This work deals with the performance of a microbial fuel cell, focusing on the electrocatalytic activity of selected cathodes constructed by coating nanocomposites over graphite felt under neutral pH in a doublechamber configuration using paper-recycled waste water as a typical electrolyte. Among all cathodes, iron phthalocyanine (FePc) combined multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) shows the highest power density (9.34 W/m2) compared to other two catalysts, FePc/Ketjan black (4.68 W/m2) and MWCNT (2.9 W/m2) under similar conditions of using a reference platinum/carbon (Pt/C) loading of 0.5 mg/cm2. The morphology of these catalyst coated electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Their electrocatalytic activities were examined using cyclic voltammetry. This work provides an appropriate alternative for cathode catalysts in treatment as well as in electricity production as demonstrated by the high power density of the above catalysts compared to that using precious Pt metal catalyst in microbial fuel cells.

Keywords


Iron Phthalocyanine, Microbial Fuel Cell, Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes, Oxygen Reduction Rate, Paper Recycling Wastewater.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv113%2Fi03%2F468-473