The Effect of Various Carbohydrate
Sources Utilized in a Double Chamber
Microbial Fuel Cell
Julie Paone
Period 0-1
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/bioenergy/mfc_make_cell.htm
Need
•
•
•
•
Alternate energy
Efficiency and economically priced
Wastewater has 9.3 more energy in it than what’s being used to treat it.
Microbial Fuel Cell
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/web_presentations/MFC-MECs-Bruce-Logan-1-2-08.pdf
Knowledge Base
Any organic material can create electricity
• Two step process
– Removal of electrons from
organic matter (oxidation)
– Giving the electrons to
something that will accept
them (reduction)(oxygen)
• The electrons flow to
cathode and join with
protons
• Voltage and current
Logan, 2009
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/publications/2009-Logan-NatRevMicrobiol.pdf
Electrogenesis
•
•
•
•
http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v4/n7/fig_tab/nrmicro1442_F2.html
Process of converting
food into energy
Respiratory enzymes 
ATP
Terminal electron
acceptor (TEA)
Exogenously
Carbon Sources
• Food Source (substrate)
• glucose, fructose, sucrose,
lactose, and starch
http://www.diabetes-support.com/Articles/understanding-diabetic-diet.htm
Glucose
Fructose
•C6H12O6
•used as an energy source in most
organisms, from bacteria to humans
•
Simple monosaccharide
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Isomer of glucose (C6H12O6)
•
Different structure
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2008/04/Edible_electricity.asp
Sucrose
Lactose
•
Disaccharide (glucose and fructose)
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C12H22O11
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Table sugar
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Disaccharide
(galactose and glucose fragments)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Sucrose_3Dprojection.png
•
Sugar in milk
•
C12H22O11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose
Starch
•
large number of glucose units joined together
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Most important carbohydrate in the human diet
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C6H10O5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch
Construction
• Efficiency
• Cost
• Materials
Salt Bridge
(PVC Pipe)
Anode
(carbon rod)
Plastic Bottle
(Carolina)
Solution (E. coli,
food source,
methlyene blue)
Cathode
(carbon rod)
Solution
(Potassium
Ferricyanide)
Literature
Review 1
(Choi, et al. 2007)
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•
•
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Effect of carbon sources as the substrate
Micrococcus luteus
11 carbon sources tested (yeast extract, galactose, glucose, lactose, maltose,
mannitol, mannose, sorbitol, fructose, sucrose, and starch)
Double chamber with PEM
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/journal_publications.htm
Literature Review 2
(Logan, 2005)
Electricity Generation from cystenine in a microbial fuel cell
• Cystenine (substrate)
• Double chamber MFC with
PEM
• Tested to see if alone it could
act as a food source
• Efficiency achieved is
comparable to other substrates
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/journal_publications.htm
Literature
Review 3
•
In one equation, 1 molecule of glucose provides a maximum of
24 electrons.
Bennetto, 1990
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/ncbe/materials/MICROBIOLOGY/PDF/bennetto.pdf
•
Literature Review 4
• Rhodopseudomonas palustris
DX-1
• Cell voltage and current were
used to calculate the power
density (P=I/V)
• Increase in anode surface
increases the performance
Xing, 2008
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/publications/2008-Xing-etal-ES&T.pdf
Purpose
• To determine whether a monosaccharide,
disaccharide, or polysaccharide food source
significantly affects the amount of voltage produced by
E. coli in a Microbial Fuel Cell.
Hypothesis
• The null hypothesis states that the type of food source
will not significantly affect the voltage produced by
bacteria.
• The alternate hypothesis states that the type of food
source has a significant affect on the amount of
voltage produced.
Methodology
Budget
• Experiment was done last year
• Most materials are familiar
• Background in culturing
• Data collection was previously done
• Materials are accessible
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/bioenergy/mfc_make_cell.htm
Do ability
Bibliography
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Choi, Youngjin, Eunkyoung Jung, Hyunjoo Park, Seunho Jung, Sunghyun Kim, Effect of Initial Carbon Sources on
the Performance of a Microbial Fuel Cell Containing Environmental Microorganism Micrococcus luteus. Bull.
Korean Chem. Soc, Vol. 28, No. 9, 2007 Pp. 1591-1594
•
Bennetto, H. P., Electricity generation by microorganisms, National Centre for Biotechnology Education. Vol. 1,
No.4, 1990 Pp. 163-168
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Liu, Hong, Grot, Stephen, Logan, Bruce E., Electrochemically Assisted Microbial Production of Hydrogen from
Acetate, Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 39, 2005 Pp. 4317-4320
•
Logan, Bruce E. Exoelectrogenic bacteria that power microbial fuel cells. Nature Reviews, Microbiology, Vol. 7,
May 2009 Pp. 375-381
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Logan, Bruce E., Cassandro Murano, Keith Scott, Neil D. Gray, Ian M. Head, Electricity Generation from
Cystenine in a Microbial Fuel Cell, Water Research, 2005 Pp. 942-952
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Logan, B.E., Microbial Fuel Cells, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hobeken, New Jersey, 2008.
•
Macdonald, Averil and Berry, Martyn, Science through Hydrogen: Clean Energy for the Future, Heliocentris
energiesysteme, 2004. Pp. 74, 80
•
Melis, Anastasios, Green Alga Hydrogen production: progress, challenges and prospects. International Journal of
Hydrogen Energy.
•
Xing, Defeng, Zuo, Yi, Cheng, Shaoan, Regan, John M., Logan, Bruce E. Electricity Generation by
Rhodopseudomonas palustris DX-1, Environmental Science and Technology Vol. 42, No. 11, 2008 Pp. 4146-4145