Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 20 No 4 (2016): 913 - 922

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/mjas-2016-2004-27

 

 

 

EFFECT OF LONG TIME OXYGEN EXPOSURE ON POWER GENERATION OF MICROBIAL FUEL CELL WITH ENRICHED MIXED CULTURE

 

(Kesan Terhadap Penjanaan Kuasa Sel Bahan Api Mikrob dengan Kultur Campuran yang Diperkaya Melalui Pendedahan pada Oksigen untuk Jangka Masa Lama)

 

Mimi Hani Abu Bakar^{1, 2, 3}*, Neil F Pasco², Ravi Gooneratne³, Kim Byung Hong^1,4,5

 

¹Fuel cell Institute,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43000 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

²Lincoln Ventures Ltd,

PO Box 133, Lincoln, Christchurch 7640, New Zealand

³Lincoln University, PO Box 84, Lincoln, 7647, New Zealand

⁴Korea Institute of Science & Technology,

Seongbuk-ku, Seoul 136-792, Korea

⁵State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource & Environment,

Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China

 

*Corresponding author: mimihani@ ukm.edu.my

 

 

Received: 5 February 2016; Accepted: 22 April 2016

 

 

Abstract

In this study, we are interested in the effect of long time exposure of the microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to air on the electrochemical performance. Here, MFCs enriched using an effluent from a MFC operated for about eight months. After 30 days, the condition of these systems was reversed from aerobic to anaerobic and vice versa, and their effects were observed for 11 days.  The results show that for anaerobic MFCs, power generation was reduced when the anodes were exposed to dissolved oxygen of 7.5 ppm. The long exposure of anodic biofilm to air led to poor electrochemical performance. The power generation recovered fully when air supply stopped entering the anode compartment with a reduction of internal resistance up to 53%.  The study was able to show that mixed facultative microorganism able to strive through the aerobic condition for about a month at 7.5 ppm oxygen or less. The anaerobic condition was able to turn these microbes into exoelectrogen, producing considerable power in relative to their aerobic state.

 

Keywords:  microbial fuel cell, aerobic, oxygen exposure, wastewater

 

Abstrak

Dalam kajian ini, kami berminat untuk mengesan prestasi elektrokimia sel bahan api mikrob (MFC) terhadap  pendedahan jangka masa panjang kepada udara. Di sini, MFC diperkaya menggunakan efluen daripada MFC yang telah beroperasi selama kira-kira lapan bulan. Selepas 30 hari, keadaan sistem ini telah diterbalikkan dari aerobik untuk anaerobik dan sebaliknya, dan kesannya diperhatikan selama 11 hari. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa untuk MFC anaerobik, penjanaan kuasa telah berkurangan apabila anod terkena oksigen terlarut 7.5 ppm. Pendedahan jangka masa panjang biofilem anod kepada udara membawa kepada prestasi elektrokimia yang rendah. Penjanaan kuasa pulih sepenuhnya apabila bekalan udara berhenti memasuki ruangan anod dengan pengurangan rintangan sehingga 53 %. Kajian ini dapat menunjukkan bahawa mikroorganisma fakultatif campuran dapat hidup melalui keadaan aerobik selama sebulan pada 7.5 ppm oksigen atau kurang. Keadaan anaerobik mampu mengubah mikrob ini kepada eksoelektrogen, seterusnya menghasilkan kuasa yang tinggi berbanding dengan apabila berada di dalam keadaan aerobik.

 

Kata kunci:  sel bahan api mikrob, aerobik, pendedahan oksigen, air sisa

 

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