Microbial Fuel Cells: Little Bugs Could Make a Big Difference

Orianna Bretschger
Ph.D. candidate in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in collaboration with the USC Geobiology program
University of Southern CaliforniaAbstract
A microbial fuel cell is a system that utilizes the catalytic activity of microbes to convert the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) utilize a broad range of materials for fuel and a microbe (or microbial communities) as the catalyst. Given these components, MFCs are a very flexible technology that can be used in many applications. For example, MFCs have been employed in South Korea to treat waste water and yield a by-product of electricity for over 5 years! Additionally, MFC's are being explored as tools for understanding microbial physiology and are being optimized for portable power applications.
Future MFC applications will be enabled when the current densities produced by MFCs are improved, which will be dependent upon a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the microbial production of electricity. MFC design is an additional factor that must be considered for future applications. When these biological and engineering issues are fully understood and addressed, it should be possible to move up in scale to industrial applications, and down in scale to micro- and nano-applications: then MFC applications may only be limited by the imagination of the investigator!

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 156

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes