Recent research efforts dedicated to improving microbial fuel cell (MFC) design, materials, and the knowledge of the microbial community have increased MFC power output by several orders of magnitude. However, an aspect that has been overlooked is how the produced energy is harvested. In laboratory tests, MFCs are often operated with a constant external resistance, which leads to a mismatch between the internal and the external resistances, therefore decreasing the MFC power output. This study presents the concept of MFC operation with intermittent connection of the electrical load. Furthermore, we show that a simple equivalent circuit model can be used for on-line estimation of the MFC capacitance and internal resistance. These values are then used for subsequent duty cycle correction. The proposed method for maximizing MFC power output at electrical loads below the internal resistance is demonstrated in a laboratory-scale MFC.

Optimization of microbial fuel cell performance by intermittent connection of the electrical load

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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