Assessment of different ceramic filtration membranes as a separator in microbial fuel cells

Abstract

Membranes damaged by irreversible fouling and microbial and chemical attacks need to be replaced, significantly increasing the operational and maintenance costs of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in field applications. Here, two different ceramic filtration membranes (Anodisc 13 and Sterlitech 15), which have long lifespans due to their strong mechanical strength, chemical stability, and relatively low fouling propensities, were employed in a two-chamber MFC, and compared to Nafion 117. Anodisc 13 showed a similar electrical membrane resistance (3.0 Ω) to Nafion 117 (1.7 Ω), whereas Sterlitech 15 had a significantly higher electrical membrane resistance (226 Ω). Higher oxygen and substrate transport coefficients (6.30 × 10⁻⁴ and 23.2 × 10⁻⁷) were obtained with Anodisc 13, but lower (0.08 × 10⁻⁴ and 1.30 × 10⁻⁷) were observed with Sterlitech 15, compared to Nafion 117 (3.60 × 10⁻⁴ and 9.50 × 10⁻⁷). However, during MFC operation, the highest voltage (67.7 ± 1.9 mV) was generated when using Anodisc 13, followed by Nafion 117 (57.3 ± 3.6 mV) and Sterlitech 15 (32.9 ± 1.8 mV), due to the facilitated ion transport arising from the large pore size (0.1 μm), smaller thickness (67 μm), and highly porous and non-tortuous pore structure of Anodisc 13.

Keywords:

• Bioelectrochemical system
• Ceramic filtration membrane
• Microbial fuel cell
• Separator

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant (code 15IFIP-B088091-02) from the Industrial Facilities and Infrastructure Research Program funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Korean government, and in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. 2015R1C1A1A01054039).