A new study recently published in the Biotechnology and Bioengineering journal examines the use of bacteria as a possible option to create electricity. The research team took a critical look at microbial fuel cell technology with the real possibility that it could be commercialized in the future. The lead author and grad student, Andrew Kato Marcus said “”We can use any kind of waste, such as sewage or pig manure, and the microbial fuel cell will generate electrical energy.” One of the most exciting parts is that conventional fuel cell need hydrogen while MFC handles water based organic fuels.
“There is a lot of biomass out there that we look at simply as energy stored in the wrong place,” said Bruce Rittmann, director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology. “We can take this waste, keeping it in its normal liquid form, but allowing the bacteria to convert the energy value to our society’s most useful form, electricity. They get food while we get electricity.”
What gave the researchers the idea to use bacteria? Simple – bacteria can handle just about anything as part of their diet. Scientists would then take the metabolism of the waste and link it to electricity products and the MFC doesn’t need extra steps like other fuel cells. Marcus adds “We like to work with bacteria, because bacteria provide a cheap source of electricity.”
Researchers see a lot of potential with the study, but of course there’s a long way to go. The biofilm that the bacteria create needs to be balanced. If the film is too thick then the electrons can’t get the anode but if it’s too thick, there aren’t enough bacteria to remove the electrons quickly from the fuel. Luckily the project has funding from NASA along with industrial sponsorship from OpenCEL and NZLegacy.
