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. 2017 Nov;92(11):2817-2824.
doi: 10.1002/jctb.5353. Epub 2017 Jul 24.

Prototype of a scaled-up microbial fuel cell for copper recovery

Pau Rodenas Motos  1   2 , Gonzalo Molina  1 , Annemiek Ter Heijne  2 , Tom Sleutels  1 , Michel Saakes  1 , Cees Buisman  1   2
Affiliations

Prototype of a scaled-up microbial fuel cell for copper recovery

Pau Rodenas Motos et al. J Chem Technol Biotechnol. 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) enable recovery of electrical energy through oxidation of a wide range of substrates at an anode and simultaneous recovery of metals at a cathode. Scale-up of BESs from the laboratory to pilot scale is a challenging step in the development of the process, and there are only a few successful experiences to build on. This paper presents a prototype BES for the recovery of copper.

Results: The cell design presented here had removable electrodes, similar to those in electroplating baths. The anode and cathode in this design could be replaced independently. The prototype bioelectrochemical cell consisted of an 835 cm2 bioanode fed with acetate, and a 700 cm2 cathode fed with copper. A current density of 1.2 A/-2 was achieved with 48 mW m-2 of power production. The contribution of each component (anode, electrolytes, cathode and membrane) was evaluated through the analysis of the internal resistance distribution. This revealed that major losses occurred at the anode, and that the design with removable electrodes results in higher internal resistance compared with other systems. To further assess the practical applicability of BES for copper recovery, an economic evaluation was performed.

Conclusion: Analysis shows that the internal resistance of several lab-scale BESs is already sufficiently low to make the system economic, while the internal resistance for scaled-up systems still needs to be improved considerably to become economically applicable.© 2017 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Keywords: BES; MET; MFC; copper.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of the experimental setup (not to scale).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the bioanode module housing.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Evolution of current density of duplicate experiments (A and B) in time at different external resistances for cathode 1 (black) and cathode 2 (red) at a copper concentration of 1 g L−1. The arrows in these figures indicate when the external resistance was changed.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Contribution of partial internal resistance to the total internal resistance; anode (light green bar), cathode (dark green bar), membrane (blue bar), catholyte (orange bar) and anoloyte (red bar) at different external resistances at different external resistances. In addition, the current density at each external resistance is shown.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Cost and revenue as a function of the internal resistance for three different electron donors for an MFC with an output voltage of 0.5 V. As a reference technology the costs for SX/EW are included. Also, the results achieved by Rodenas et al. and in this study are shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Rodenas Motos P, Ter Heijne A, van der Weijden R, Saakes M, Buisman CJN and Sleutels THJA, High rate copper and energy recovery in microbial fuel cells. Front Microbiol. 6:1–8 (2015). - PMC - PubMed

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