A grey box model of glucose fermentation and syntrophic oxidation in microbial fuel cells

Maria de Los Ángeles Fernandez; Maria de Los Ángeles Sanromán; Stanislaw Marks; Jacek Makinia; Araceli Gonzalez Del Campo; Manuel Rodrigo; Francisco Jesus Fernandez

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.10.010

A grey box model of glucose fermentation and syntrophic oxidation in microbial fuel cells

Bioresour Technol. 2016 Jan:200:396-404. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.10.010. Epub 2015 Oct 21.

Authors

Maria de Los Ángeles Fernandez¹, Maria de Los Ángeles Sanromán², Stanislaw Marks³, Jacek Makinia⁴, Araceli Gonzalez Del Campo⁵, Manuel Rodrigo⁵, Francisco Jesus Fernandez⁶

Affiliations

¹ University of Castilla-La Mancha, ITQUIMA, Chemical Engineering Department, Avenida Camilo José Cela S/N., 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain; University of Vigo, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isaac Newton Building, Campus As Lagoas, Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
² University of Vigo, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isaac Newton Building, Campus As Lagoas, Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
³ University of Castilla-La Mancha, ITQUIMA, Chemical Engineering Department, Avenida Camilo José Cela S/N., 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain; Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland.
⁴ Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland.
⁵ University of Castilla-La Mancha, ITQUIMA, Chemical Engineering Department, Avenida Camilo José Cela S/N., 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain.
⁶ University of Castilla-La Mancha, ITQUIMA, Chemical Engineering Department, Avenida Camilo José Cela S/N., 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain. Electronic address: FcoJesus.FMorales@uclm.es.

PMID: 26512864
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.10.010

Abstract

In this work, the fermentative and oxidative processes taking place in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) fed with glucose were studied and modeled. The model accounting for the bioelectrochemical processes was based on ordinary, Monod-type differential equations. The model parameters were estimated using experimental results obtained from three H-type MFCs operated at open or closed circuits and fed with glucose or ethanol. The experimental results demonstrate that similar fermentation processes were carried out under open and closed circuit operation, with the most important fermentation products being ethanol (with a yield of 1.81molmol(-1) glucose) and lactic acid (with a yield of 1.36molmol(-1) glucose). A peak in the electricity generation was obtained when glucose and fermentation products coexisted in the liquid bulk. However, almost 90% of the electricity produced came from the oxidation of ethanol.

Keywords: Ethanol; Fermentation; Glucose; Microbial fuel cell; Modeling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Calibration
Electricity
Electrons
Equipment Design
Ethanol / chemistry
Fermentation*
Glucose / chemistry*
Kinetics
Lactic Acid / chemistry
Oxygen / chemistry*

Substances

Lactic Acid
Ethanol
Glucose
Oxygen