Operation and characterization of a microbial fuel cell fed with pretreated cheese whey at different organic loads

Electricity production from filter sterilized cheese whey at different organic loads (0.35, 0.7, 1.5, 2.7 and 6.7 g COD/L respectively) was investigated in a two-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC). The best performance of the cell was observed at the highest concentration of the pretreated (filter sterilized) cheese whey (6.7 g COD/L) corresponding to a maximum power density of approximately 46 mW/m2. Experiments using glucose (0.35 g COD/L) were also performed for comparison reasons. The study of the open-circuit impedance characteristics of the MFC and of the individual electrodes revealed that the open-circuit impedance of the MFC depended to practically the same extent on both the ohmic resistance between the anode and cathode and the overall polarization resistance. The polarization resistance of the MFC decreased significantly under closed-circuit conditions, which in turn implies that the ohmic overpotential is the main contribution to the energy losses in two-chamber MFCs.