Environmental applications of microbial fuel cells
Bio electrocatalysis; Environmental pollutants; MFC-based biosensors; Microbial carbon capture; Microbial desalination cell; Microbial fuel cell
The world is facing an energy crisis for non-renewable resources for the last decade. Hence, there is a search for highly efficient energy transformation techniques which utilizes alternate renewable energy sources. One such renewable energy production technology is Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) based on dynamic organisms like microbes. MFCs allow producing electricity using renewable organic waste through microbial cellular respiration, which helps in reducing the carbon footprint as well as the environmental pollution. MFCs can also be used in metal recovery by bio electrochemical recovery, because metal ions can be reduced and deposited on an electrode by bacteria, algae, yeasts, and fungi. Microbial carbon capture cells are advancements to MFC, where algal biomass provides oxygen for cathodic reduction in the cathodic chamber and is ideally considered as the plausible technologies to tackle the ever-increasing problem of global warming and increased CO2 concentration. The MFCs find application in environmental remediation with respect to harmful organic pollutants by neutralizing/degrading contaminated water and soil. The harmful organic pollutants that can be neutralized include organic dyes, pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics, phenolic nitro phenolic compounds, and many others. This gives a long-term solution for pollutant degradation that is also environmentally acceptable. MFC-based biosensors have recently emerged as the next-generation biosensing technique for environmental monitoring. 2022 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Mayegowda S.B.; More P.R.; Bhavan K.S.; Suresh Kumar K.; Thippeswamy R.
Microbial Fuel Cell: Electricity Generation and Environmental Remediation, pp. 225-257.
Mayegowda S.B., Christ-Deemed to be University, Kanmanike, Kumbalgodu, Bangalore, Karnataka, India; More P.R., School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Kumaraswamylayout, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; Bhavan K.S., School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Kumaraswamylayout, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; Suresh Kumar K., Department of Chemistry, BMS Institute of Technology and Management, Avalahalli, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; Thippeswamy R., Department of Chemistry, BMS Institute of Technology and Management, Avalahalli, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India