PHOTO: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
technology
Logan of Penn State University sits before a bench top showcasing various microbial fuel cell designs.
Jessica Ebert is a Biomass Magazine staff writer. Reach her at jebert@bbibiofuels.com or (701) 746-8385.
PHOTO: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
est in scaling-up the technology and designing demonstration-size reactors, Logan says. “Once we do those demonstrations, then it can move forward to commercialization.” A group at the University of Queensland in Australia recently received government and industry support to build a pilot-scale MFC at Foster’s brewery in Yatala, Queensland. “While most researchers make tiny reactors, we have been building larger systems and investing much time in making them work really well,” says Korneel Rabaey, a postdoctoral research fellow with the university’s Advanced Wastewater Management Center. The reactor consists of 12 modules; each one is a 3-meter-high tube with carbon brushes on the inside that serve as the anode. The wall of the tube is a membrane that facilitates the transport of electrons to the outside of the cylinder, which consists of cathode-carbon brushes clamped to a stainless steel mesh. The goal of the pilot facility is to remove at least 5 kilograms of organics per cubic meter of reactor volume per day. “Depending on this removal, we can achieve power production of up to 500 watts continuously,” Rabaey explains. “But power is always the secondary target. In this first phase we want to clean the wastewater. MFCs clean wastewater in an energy efficient way and without generating much sludge. That is where the real benefit is.” BIO Liu of Oregon State University measures the current produced by this microbial fuel cell. 12|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 21