Investingation of parameters affective on MFC operation

Bioenergy is a renewable energy that plays an indispensable role in meeting today’s ever increasing energy needs. Unlike biofuels, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) convert energy harvested from redox reactions directly in to bioelectricity. MFCs can utilize low-grade organic carbons (fuels) in waste streams[1]. In recent years, MFCs have also been used in the electrolysis mode to produce bioproducts in laboratory tests. Micro organisms actively catabolize substrate, and bioelectricities are generated. MFCs could be utilized as power generator in small devices such as biosensor. Besides the advantages of this technology, it still faces practical barriers such as low power and current density. In the present article different parts of MFC such as anode, cathode and membrane have been reviewed and to overcome the practical challenges in this field some practical options have been suggested MFCs research has intensified in the past decade and the maximum MFCs power density output has been increased greatly and many types of waste streams have been tested[2]. However, new breakthroughs are needed for MFCs to be practical in wastewater treatment and power generation beyond powering small sensor devices. To reduce capital and operational costs, simple and robust membrane less MFCs reactors are desired[3]. This review is an update on the recent advances on MFCs designs and operations.