Microbial Fuel Cells for Energy and Environmental Applications

Abstract

Serious climate changes due to environmental pollution and reduction in the fossil fuel resources lead to a perpetual demand for research and development of sustainable renewable energy sources. The bioelectrochemical cells (Microbial Fuel Cells:MFCs) is one of the alternate energy sources that converts chemical energy into electrical energy employing microorganisms as catalysts. The major advantage of MFCs being the usage of organic wastes (food, plant, animal and human wastes) as an energy source. MFCs function not only as energy conversion device but also as bioremediation device that reduces heavy metal pollutant with wastewater treatment. In addition to energy conversion and bioremediation, we have attempted metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) synthesis using MFCs, to demonstrate its ability to function as a reactor for synthetic routes. Thus the present investigation involves fabrication of lab-scale prototype of 2-chambered MFCs from environmentally benign, low-cost materials for energy and environmental applications newline