Mathematical modeling of microbiological fuel cells with the aim of energy production and wastewater treatment

Number of pages: 107 File Format: word File Code: 31813
Year: 2010 University Degree: Master's degree Category: Biology - Environment
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  • Summary of Mathematical modeling of microbiological fuel cells with the aim of energy production and wastewater treatment

    Dissertation for receiving the master's degree "M.Sc"

    Chemical-Environmental Engineering

    Abstract:

    Microbiological fuel cells (MFC) are considered as one of the important potentials in providing clean and renewable energy in the future. In addition to providing electric energy, which is the most widely used and flexible among other types of energy, MFCs not only do not cause the slightest pollution to the environment, but also have a significant effect in purifying and eliminating environmental pollution such as urban sewage and leachate from urban solid waste. The first chapter of this research is an overview of microbiological fuel cell technology. The second chapter deals with the technical issues and mathematical foundations of fuel cells from the beginning until today, which is the basis of the model presented in the third chapter. In the third chapter, with a more detailed examination of the works presented by different researchers and the use of assumptions as well as experimental data presented in different articles, a suitable model for the double chamber microbiological fuel cell has been presented, and by using this model, various graphs related to the power, current intensity and potential difference resulting from this type of fuel cell have been drawn. The fourth chapter presents general conclusions in the field of microbiological fuel cells and their mathematical modeling.

    Introduction:

    By leaving behind the industrial age and entering the information age, the indiscriminate use of fossil and non-renewable fuel sources in the development and progress of industry in recent decades has made the lives of modern humans face serious environmental threats, so that climate change is not a regional challenge but a The title is a global issue. The formation of consensus, commissions and global organizations and the approval of various laws, conventions and protocols at the global level, such as the Kyoto Treaty and the Basel Convention, as well as the definition of projects such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, all testify to the importance of this issue. In addition, the news that the world's oil resources will run out in the next 30 to 40 years has led various countries to seriously look for renewable and alternative sources in order to ensure their energy security in the future. Microbiological fuel cells (MFC) are considered as one of the important potentials in providing clean and renewable energy in the future In addition to providing electrical energy, which is the most widely used and flexible among other types of energy, MFCs not only do not cause the slightest pollution to the environment, but also have a significant effect in purifying and eliminating environmental pollution such as urban sewage and leachate from urban solid waste. Currently, MFC technology has not yet reached commercial and mass production due to low efficiency. With the commercialization of this industry, the issue of urban wastewater will be raised not only as a problem but also as a source of clean energy supply, because urban wastewater is a rich source of microorganisms used in microbiological fuel cells.

    Mathematical modeling of microbial fuel cells makes it possible for researchers to predict the resulting changes in the produced power by changing the parameters affecting the efficiency of microbiological fuel cells and without conducting numerous tests and time. pay yourself In this research, an appropriate model has been tried to predict such changes.

     

    Chapter One

     

     

    Income on Microbiological Fuel Cell

     

    Chapter One: Income on Microbiological Fuel Cell

    1-1) Concepts

    Microbial fuel cell refers to a reactor that converts the chemical energy stored in the chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy through the catalytic reactions of microorganisms and under anaerobic conditions. For years, scientists have realized that organic matter can be decomposed and electricity generated directly by using bacteria. MFCs can also be used in wastewater treatment to decompose organic matter. In addition, during the articles, it has been tried to use MFCs as biological sensors such as BOD display sensors. The output power and efficiency of Columbus in MFCs are influenced by factors such as: the type of microbes in the anode cell, MFC configuration and operating conditions.. Currently, the practical applications of MFCs are limited because their output power is low and in the range of several thousand milliwatts per square meter (mW/m2). Scientists are trying to improve the performance of MFCs and reduce their manufacturing and operating costs. This article is trying to give an overview of the recent progress in the study and advancement of MFCs and further, the configuration and efficiency of MFCs are explained. Biological renewable energy is one of the suitable options for compensating part of the human society's need for energy. Recently, many studies have been conducted to develop different methods of energy production. In the meantime, the production of electricity from renewable sources that do not emit carbon dioxide into the environment is of more interest than any other method (Lovley, 2006, Davis and Hingson, 2007). Recently, the technology of microbial fuel cells, MFCs, which converts the energy stored in the bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy through catalytic reactions by microorganisms, has received special attention. (Allen and Bennetto, 1993; Gil et al., 2003; Moon et al., 2006; Choi et al., 2003). In addition to generating electrical energy which is the most versatile and flexible form of energy, MFCs are not only capable of treating the environmental pollutants i.e. municipal wastewater (sewage) and leachate, they are of almost zero discharge to the environment.

    First chapter of this research focuses on overview of Microbial Fuel cell Technology. Chapter two concentrates on technical and mathematical fundamentals of fuel cells from past up to the time being which provides the basics in mathematical modeling of microbial fuel cells.

    In chapter three, after an investigation of the reports and articles that involved in different aspects of mathematical modeling of MFCs, using the suppositions and experimental data that were reported in various articles, an appropriate model for a double chamber MFC has been developed. Making use of the obtained mathematical model, curves of generated power, voltage, and current were drawn.

  • Contents & References of Mathematical modeling of microbiological fuel cells with the aim of energy production and wastewater treatment

    List:

    Abstract

    1

    Introduction

    2

    Chapter One: Introduction to Microbiological Fuel Cell

    3

    Concepts

    4

    Review of electron transport interfaces in MFCs

    7

    Microbes that They are used in microbial fuel cells. 8. Configuration of microbial fuel cells. 12. MFC components. 12. Two-component MFC systems. Up-flow

    19

    1-4-5)     Stacked microbial fuel cell

    21

    MFC performance

    22

    1-5-1) ideal performance

    22

    1-5-2) actual efficiency of MFC

    24

    1-5-3) Effect of operating conditions

    26

    1-5-4) Effect of electrode type

    27

    1-5-5) pH buffer and electrolyte

    29

    1-5-6) Proton exchange system

    30

    1-5-7) Operating conditions in anode chamber

    31

    1-5-8) Operating conditions in the cathode chamber

    32

    Applications

    34

    1-6-1) Electricity generation

    34

    1-6-2) Biohydrogen

    36

    1-6-3) Wastewater treatment

    37

    1-6-4) Biological sensors (Biosensors)

    38

    The perspective of MFCs

    39

    Chapter Two: Technical issues of fuel cells

    41

    2-1) Battery voltage and electrode potential

    42

    2-2) Dependence of equilibrium battery voltage on Concentration: general Nernst equation

    44

    2-3) metal/metal ion potentials (+M/Mz)

    46

    2-4) oxidation/reduction potentials (RED/OX)

    48

    2-5) application of Nernst equation in the dependence of RedOx potential on concentration

    50

    2-6) Calculation of electrode equilibrium potentials

    51

    2-7) Hydrogen electrode

    52

    2-8) Metal/insoluble salt/ion electrodes

    54

    2-9) Calomel electrode

    56

    2-10) Silver electrode/silver chloride

    57

    2-11) mercury-mercury sulfate electrode

    59

    2-12) potential of standard electrodes

    60

    2-13) concentration and activity

    62

    2-14) Debye-Hückel activity coefficient theory: point-charge model

    63

    2-15) Debye-Hückel activity coefficient theory: limited ion size model

    65

    2-16) Stokes-Robinson correction Debye-Hückel theory effect of ion-solvent interaction

    66

    Chapter three: Mathematical modeling of microbiological fuel cell

    68

    3-1) General structure of MFC intended for Modeling

    69

    3-2) Model development

    69

    3-3) Speed ??of reactions

    71

    3-4) Problem solving

    78

    3-5) Calculation of parameters

    78

    3-6) Discussion and conclusion

    83

    Chapter four: conclusions and suggestions

    84

    Table of contents

    Title of contents

    Page number

                                         

    Resources

    List of Persian sources

    86

    List of Latin sources

    87

    Information sites

    97

    English abstract

    98

    Source:

    List of Persian sources

    Mokhtarian Nader, Rahimnejad Mostafa, Najafpour Qasim, Qureshi Seyyed Ali Asghar, determination of microorganisms and suitable culture media for use In microbiological fuel cells as a clean source of energy, the 6th National Biotechnological Conference of the Islamic Republic of Iran, August 1388

     

    List of Latin sources

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    Andrea E., Manana M., Ortiz A., Renedo C., Eguiluz L.I., Perez S., Delgado F.,., A simplified electrical model of small PEM fuel cell, Department of electrical engineering, E.T.S.I.I.T. University of Cantabria, Spain, 2006.

    Angenent LT, KarimK, Al-DahhanMH, WrennBA, Dom?guez-Espinosa R. Production of bioenergy and biochemicals from industrial and agricultural wastewater. Trends Biotechnol 2004;9:477–85.

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    B.E. Conway, in physical chemistry, an advanced treatise, Vol. 1XA, H.Eyring, ed., Academic Press New York, 1970.

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    Chang IS, Moon H, Bretschger O, Jang JK, Park HI, Nealson KH, Kim BH (2006) Electrochemically active bacteria (EAB) and mediator-less microbial fuel cells. J Microbiol Biotechnol 16(2): 163–177

    Chang IS, Moon H, Jang JK, Kim BH. Improvement of a microbial fuel cell performance as a BOD sensor using respiratory inhibitors. Biosens Bioelectron 2005;20:1856–9.

    Chaudhuri SK, Lovley DR. Electricity generation by direct oxidation of glucose in mediatorless microbial fuel cells. Nat Biotechnol 2003;21:1229–32.

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    Cheng S, Liu H, Logan BE. Increased power generation in a continuous flow MFC with advective flow through the porous anode and reduced electrode spacing. Environ Sci Technol 2006b;40:2426–32.

    Cheng S, Liu H, Logan BE. Power densities using different cathode catalyst (Pt and CoTMPP) and polymer binders (Nafion and PTFE) in single chamber microbial fuel cells. Environ Sci Technol 2006c;40:364–9.

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    Deep Pant, Gilbert Van Bogaert, Ludo Diels, Karolien Vanbroekhoven, A review of the substrates used in microbial fuel cells for sustainable energy production, Elsevier, Bioresource Technology 101 (2010) 1533-1543, 2010.

Mathematical modeling of microbiological fuel cells with the aim of energy production and wastewater treatment