Comparison of performance of an earthen plate and nafion as membrane separators in dual chamber microbial fuel cells

The performance of microbial fuel cells (MFC) employing an earthen plate as a membrane separator is compared to that using Nafion 117 in an identical up-flow dual-chambered cylindrical cell configuration. The MFC configuration is of a cylindrical outer cathode chamber separated by the membrane from a concentric rectangular inner anode chamber. The fuel cells, operated under continuous mode at hydraulic retention time of 12 hr, achieved average chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of 60% and 48%, for the Nafion and earthen plate separators, respectively. The microbial fuel cells based on the earthen plate separator generated slightly lower average (28%) and maximum (48%) power densities than Nafion separator which is likely due to the higher membrane resistance. The earthen plate separator is 99% cheaper than the Nafion membrane, showing promise as an alternate separator for application to MFC technology.Support for this research was provided by a Charles Parsons Energy Research Award through Science Foundation Ireland.peer-reviewe