Study of Power Generation in Plant Microbial Fuel Cell Using Plants with High Rhizodeposition Potential and Rhizosphere Microbes

Abstract

newlinePlant microbial fuel cell research is presently in its preliminary stage globally. The proof of concept is established, but there are lot of drawbacks which are not yet resolved and hence requires thorough experimentation. This study has identified some of those drawbacks which includes unidentified information on the majority of plant species for their power generation applications, feasibility, and applicability. Another significant data which is not yet available is regarding microbial species which are extremely specific for power generation applications and could be inoculated in the plant microbial fuel cells for improved power generation. Hence, screening of available and known microbial species could be an effective way to resolve this problem. The third most important drawback with plant microbial fuel cell is with its assembly and design used in the earlier studies. The presently used microbial fuel cell design is not portable and generally results in the higher magnitude of internal resistance of the system. This results in lower drift velocity of electrons collected on the anode chamber of microbial fuel cells and hence flow of the current is less. Hence, to resolve this design and system-based issues, it was essential to study the power generation in existing electrochemical systems and compare it with the presently used plant microbial fuel cells. All these above-mentioned drawbacks were explored in this study with the help of experimental designs and available resources. Firstly, the eleven native plant species were procured. This includes some vegetable crop species, some weed species and some grass species as well as three bamboo species also. Out of these eleven species, two plant species were found to be extremely effective for power generation applications using PMFC. These species were Capsicum annuum L. Chili of AK 47 variety commercialized by Advanta Golden Seeds and Dendrocalamus strictus Roxb. Nees which not only provided higher power generation but also consistent power generation.