MICROBIAL FUEL CELL AND ITS EVALUATION

Functioning mechanism of microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cell is an innovative development that uses microorganisms as a biocatalyst to generate electrical energy from chemical energy. That fuel cell attracted researcher due to it its ability to generate energy from waste materials. It consists of an anode and a cathode that are kept separated by a proton exchange membrane. There are many factors that contribute in its performance including microorganisms, membrane, ionic strength of the solution, electrode, internal and external cell resistance, and electrode spacing. Shahgaldi et al. (2014) prepared the membrane by using Nafion in different combination with the help of high porosity electro nano -fibres. The various characteristics of the membrane and PVDF nano fibers were taken into consideration including morphology, structure, power generated and thermal stability. In addition, they predicted that the presence of the electrospun PVDF nano fibers increased the thermal stability of the membrane (Shahgaldi et al., 2014).

Evaluation of Fuel Cell

An analysis and comparison of different fuel cell facilitate for a specifically offered application that is dependent on several factors. These factors are case-dependent; however, it is possible to organize them into physical  factors including total stack dimension and weight, cell energetic area, complete BoP subsystems, stacks of cells,  and weight and dimension. These are necessary elements when the dimension or weight of fuel cell device is designed restrictions that have to be encountered. That is most typically experienced for transport and mobile applications when the weight or dimension of the fuel cell device having important constraints. Performance aspects consist of the polarization, device performance curves and energy thickness. It is possible to optimize the pile design by limiting the layout criteria to varieties that fall under the top energy density or system efficiency regions. Additionally, the energy thickness contour offers an indicator of the flexibility of the output energy the pile can create. On the other hand, the polarization contour, in combination with the energy density curve, is used to identify optimal function points in regards to power and voltage. Running expenses are a function of stack fuel intake, thermal administration system needs, and efficiency of the power conditioning equipment; in addition to other case-dependent factors. Sturdiness is also a crucial factor in selecting a fuel cell pile for a particular application. This is most revealing for static power generation applications where the fuel cell system is expected to function for a practical amount of time with minimal maintenance demands (Shahgaldi et al., 2014).

Reference

Shahgaldi, S., Ghasemi, M., Wan Daud, W., Yaakob, Z., Sedighi, M., Alam, J., & Ismail, A. (2014). Performance enhancement of microbial fuel cell by PVDF/Nafion nanofibre composite proton exchange membrane. Fuel Processing Technology, 124, 290-295.