| Title | Microbial fuel cell: An energy harvesting technique for environmental remediation |
| Abstract | Pollution of soil and water environments is mainly due to different anthropogenic factors and the presence of organic contaminants, in particular persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic ones, arouses concern for their possible effects on environment and human health. One nature-based technology that can be used in biodegradation of contaminated soil and water is the microbial fuel cell (MFC). They are also capable of producing energy and of being used as environmental sensors. In this context, this article aims at presenting the capacity of MFCs to reduce environmental pollution by exploiting the process of bioelectrochemical utilisation of organic matter via microbial metabolism, to generate usable by-products, fuels and bio-electricity. The main characteristic of an MFC, when used for energy harvesting, is the absence of emissions of pollutant gases like CO, CO2, SOx, or NOx. This characteristic, together with the intrinsic capacity of bioreactors to decontaminate soils and water, is stimulating the research into engineering solutions exploiting the MFC potential. Among the different types of MFCs, as bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), the terrestrial microbial fuel cells (TMFC) and the wastewater microbial fuel cells (WWMFC) convert energy using a biocatalysts (microorganism) and a biofuel (organic substrate) in basic environments such as soil and water. Consequently, MFCs can be used as energy sources for powering sensors with low power and low voltage characteristics or complete single nodes of a distributed wireless sensor network (WSN), if coupled with smart although more complex electronic circuit. Moreover, MFCs can be environmental sensors, suited to monitor some environmental parameters influencing MFC functional behaviour like as pH and temperature. This article introduces the scenarios of polluted environments where these technologies suitably could be applied together with the description of two main type of MFC structures and their functioning. Furthermore, some case studies in which MFCs are used in decontamination of polluted environments are described. |
| Source | International journal of environmental impacts (Online) 12 (3), pp. 168–179 |
| Keywords | microbial fuel cellsdisaster recoveryremediationenergy harvesting |
| Journal | International journal of environmental impacts (Online) |
| Editor | WIT Press, Southampton, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2020 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.3390/w12030860 |
| Authors | Ancona V, Barra Caracciolo A, Borello D, Ferrara V, Grenni P, Pietrelli A |
| Text | 418640 2020 10.3390/w12030860 microbial fuel cells disaster recovery remediation energy harvesting Microbial fuel cell An energy harvesting technique for environmental remediation Ancona V, Barra Caracciolo A, Borello D, Ferrara V, Grenni P, Pietrelli A Ancona V, Barra Caracciolo A, Grenni P IRSA CNR Ferrara V Dep. of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Borello D Dep. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Pietrelli A Laboratoire Ampere Universite de Lyon INSA Lyon Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France Pollution of soil and water environments is mainly due to different anthropogenic factors and the presence of organic contaminants, in particular persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic ones, arouses concern for their possible effects on environment and human health. One nature based technology that can be used in biodegradation of contaminated soil and water is the microbial fuel cell MFC . They are also capable of producing energy and of being used as environmental sensors. In this context, this article aims at presenting the capacity of MFCs to reduce environmental pollution by exploiting the process of bioelectrochemical utilisation of organic matter via microbial metabolism, to generate usable by products, fuels and bio electricity. The main characteristic of an MFC, when used for energy harvesting, is the absence of emissions of pollutant gases like CO, CO2, SOx, or NOx. This characteristic, together with the intrinsic capacity of bioreactors to decontaminate soils and water, is stimulating the research into engineering solutions exploiting the MFC potential. Among the different types of MFCs, as bioelectrochemical systems BESs , the terrestrial microbial fuel cells TMFC and the wastewater microbial fuel cells WWMFC convert energy using a biocatalysts microorganism and a biofuel organic substrate in basic environments such as soil and water. Consequently, MFCs can be used as energy sources for powering sensors with low power and low voltage characteristics or complete single nodes of a distributed wireless sensor network WSN , if coupled with smart although more complex electronic circuit. Moreover, MFCs can be environmental sensors, suited to monitor some environmental parameters influencing MFC functional behaviour like as pH and temperature. This article introduces the scenarios of polluted environments where these technologies suitably could be applied together with the description of two main type of MFC structures and their functioning. Furthermore, some case studies in which MFCs are used in decontamination of polluted environments are described. 12 Published version Pubblicazione Articolo pubblicato EI030207f.pdf Articolo in rivista WIT Press 2398 2659 International journal of environmental impacts Online International journal of environmental impacts Online International journal of environmental impacts Int. j. environ. impacts anna.barracaracciolo BARRA CARACCIOLO ANNA paola.grenni GRENNI PAOLA valeria.ancona ANCONA VALERIA |
