Growth of Electroactive Biofilm onto Carbon Felt Bioanode in Microbial Fuel Cell: Enhancement of Bioenergy Production

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a device that converts organic matter to electricity using microorganisms as the biocatalyst [1]. It was demonstrated that it was possible to produce electricity in a MFC from domestic wastewater, while at the same time accomplishing biological wastewater treatment (removal of chemical oxygen demand; COD) [2]. It has been recently proved by Ketep et al., that the use of secondary biofilms has slightly improved performance of microbial fuel cells and confirms the good results obtained with paper effluents, in terms of current densities and COD abatement [3]. In our experiments, we showed also the thicker the biofilm layer, the less time and inefficient the electronic transfer to the anode, hence the need to replicate the electro-active biofilm on a new electrode and in a new leachate. This has increased bioenergy significantly and without much latency. The electrochemical characterization in terms of cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy confirms this phenomenon with oxidation current peaks and charge transfer resistance.