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Biocatalysts Advancement for Optimum Performance in Microbial Fuel Cells and Their Sub-types

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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Biocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 7845

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohd Rafatullah

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Guest Editor

Division of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Interests: environmental water pollutants and their safe removal; preparation of various nano-materials to protect the environment; water and wastewater treatment; adsorption and ion exchange; microbial fuel cells; advanced oxidation process; activated carbons and their electrochemical properties; environmental catalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yang-Chun Yong

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Guest Editor

Biofuels Institute, School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: pollutant biodegradation; microbial fuel cell (extracellular electron transfer mechanism, nanostructured electrode, electrochemical active biofilm); microbial electrosynthesis (CO₂ capture and transformation); microbial synthesis of functional nanomaterials; biosensors

Dr. Syed Zaghum Abbas

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Guest Editor

Biofuels Institute, School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, China
Interests: Environmental Microbiology; Pollutants Bioremediation; Bio-electrochemistry, Microbial Electrosynthesis; Microbial Electrochemical System; Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are novel devices that could be used for wastewater treatment and power generations simultaneously using electrochemically active bacteria as biocatalysts. Recently, many advancements have been tested in MFCs for better performance. The subtypes of MFCs, such as sediment MFCs, soil MFCs, sludge MFCs, and benthic MFCs, have attracted the attention of many researchers recently due to different electron transfer pathways in the solid medium rather than aquatic medium of MFCs. Many challenges in the subtypes of MFCs are addressed to obtain maximum performance. These subtypes could be employed as biosensors in their respective mediums. This Special Issue will focus on recent advancements in MFCs and their subtypes, such as efficient anode materials, coupling with other technologies, innovative applications, optimum designs, pollutant removal, and pilot scale-up.

The Special Issue will publish experimental and review papers, as well as short communications, discussing recent developments in microbial fuel cells and their subtypes for optimum performance. The topics of the papers to be submitted to this Special Issue are defined by the keywords presented below.

Dr. Mohd Rafatullah
Dr. Yang-Chun Yong
Dr. Syed Zaghum Abbas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Microbial fuel cells
Novel electrodes materials
Pollutant removal
Simulation
Innovative applications
Biocatalyst
Sediment MFC
Soil MFC
Sludge MFC
Benthic MFCs
Power generation
Resource recovery
Electrogens

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 4486 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hierarchical Porous Carbon Fibers for Enhanced Interfacial Electron Transfer of Electroactive Biofilm Electrode

by Ruijie Wang, Xiaoshuai Wu, Chang Liu, Jing Yang, Xian Luo, Long Zou, Zhisong Lu and Yan Qiao

Catalysts 2022, 12(10), 1187; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12101187 - 07 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1213

Abstract

The nanoporous carbon fiber materials derived from electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers doped with zeolitic imidazolate framework are developed here and applied in the microbe fuel cell anode for enhanced interfacial electron transfer. Zeolitic imidazolate fram-8 (ZIF-8) could introduce a large number of mesopores into fibers, which significantly promote indirect electron transfer mediated by flavins (IET). Moreover, it is noted that thinner fibers are more suitable for cytochromes-based direct electron transfer (DET). Furthermore, the enlarged fiber interspace strengthens the amount of biofilm loading but a larger interspace between thick fibers would hinder the formation of continuous biofilm. Consequently, the nanoporous carbon fiber derived from PAN/ZIF-8 composite with a 1:1 wt ratio shows the best performance according to its suitable mesoporous structure and optimal fiber diameter, which delivers a 10-fold higher maximum power density in microbial fuel cells compared to carbon fabric. In this work, we reveal that the proportion of IET and DET in the interfacial electron transfer process varies with different porous structures and fiber diameters, which may provide some insights for designing porous fiber electrodes for microbial fuel cells and also other devices of bioelectrochemical systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biocatalysts Advancement for Optimum Performance in Microbial Fuel Cells and Their Sub-types)

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12 pages, 1484 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantification of Internal Resistance Contributions of Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells Using Petroleum-Contaminated Sediment Enriched with Kerosene

by Luisa Alvarez-Benítez, Susana Silva-Martínez, Alfredo Hernandez-Perez, Sathish K. Kamaraj, Syed Zaghum Abbas and Alberto Alvarez-Gallegos

Catalysts 2022, 12(8), 871; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12080871 - 07 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1335

Abstract

Anaerobic biodegradation of petroleum-contaminated sediments can be accomplished by a sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC), but the recovered energy is very low (~4 mW m⁻²). This is due to a high internal resistance (R_i) that develops in the SMFC. The evaluation of the main experimental parameters that contribute to R_i is essential for developing a feasible SMFC design and this task is normally performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A faster and easier alternative procedure to EIS is to fit the SMFC polarization curve to an electrochemical model. From there, the main resistance contributions to R_i are partitioned. This enables the development of a useful procedure for attaining a low SMFC R_i while improving its power output. In this study, the carbon-anode surface was increased, the biodegradation activity of the indigenous populations was improved (by the biostimulation method, i.e., the addition of kerosene), the oxygen reduction reaction was catalyzed, and a 0.8 M Na₂SO₄ solution was used as a catholyte at pH 2. As a result, the initial SMFC R_i was minimized 20 times, and its power output was boosted 47 times. For a given microbial fuel cell (MFC), the main resistance contributions to R_i, evaluated by the electrochemical model, were compared with their corresponding experimental results obtained by the EIS technique. Such a validation is also discussed herein. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biocatalysts Advancement for Optimum Performance in Microbial Fuel Cells and Their Sub-types)

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28 pages, 5634 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mixture of Sludge and Chicken Manure in Membrane-Less Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Waste Treatment and Energy Recovery

by Nurul Najwa Adam Malik, Muhammad Najib Ikmal Mohd Sabri, Husnul Azan Tajarudin, Noor Fazliani Shoparwe, Hafiza Shukor, Muaz Mohd Zaini Makhtar, Syed Zaghum Abbas, Yang-Chun Yong and Mohd Rafatullah

Catalysts 2022, 12(7), 776; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12070776 - 13 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1566

Abstract

In addition to disposal issues, the abundance of sludge and chicken manure has been a rising issue in Malaysia. Membrane-less microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC) technology can be considered as one of the potential solutions to the issues of disposal and electricity generation. However, there is still a lack of information on the performance of an ML-MFC powered by sludge and chicken manure. Hence, with this project, we studied the performance of an ML-MFC supplemented with sludge and chicken manure, and its operating parameters were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) through central composite design (CCD). The optimum operating parameters were determined to be 35 °C, 75% moisture content, and an electrode distance of 3 cm. Correspondingly, the highest power density, COD removal efficiency, and biomass acquired through this study were 47.2064 mW/m², 98.0636%, and 19.6730 mg/L, respectively. The obtained COD values for dewatered sludge and chicken manure were 708 mg/L and 571 mg/L, respectively. COD values were utilized as a standard value for the substrate degradation by Bacillus subtilis in the ML-MFC. Through proximate analyses conducted by elemental analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), the composition of carbon and magnesium for sludge and chicken manure was23.75% and 34.20% and 78.1575 mg/L and 71.6098 mg/L, respectively. The proposed optimal RSM parameters were assessed and validated to determine the ML-MFC operating parameters to be optimized by RSM (CCD). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biocatalysts Advancement for Optimum Performance in Microbial Fuel Cells and Their Sub-types)

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Review

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18 pages, 6606 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Biomass-Derived Carbon Anode for High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cells

by Jamile Mohammadi Moradian, Songmei Wang, Amjad Ali, Junying Liu, Jianli Mi and Hongcheng Wang

Catalysts 2022, 12(8), 894; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12080894 - 13 Aug 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2507

Abstract

Although microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been developed over the past decade, they still have a low power production bottleneck for practical engineering due to the ineffective interfacial bioelectrochemical reaction between exoelectrogens and anode surfaces using traditional carbonaceous materials. Constructing anodes from biomass is an effective strategy to tackle the current challenges and improve the efficiency of MFCs. The advantage features of these materials come from the well-decorated aspect with an enriched functional group, the turbostratic nature, and porous structure, which is important to promote the electrocatalytic behavior of anodes in MFCs. In this review article, the three designs of biomass-derived carbon anodes based on their final products (i.e., biomass-derived nanocomposite carbons for anode surface modification, biomass-derived free-standing three-dimensional carbon anodes, and biomass-derived carbons for hybrid structured anodes) are highlighted. Next, the most frequently obtained carbon anode morphologies, characterizations, and the carbonization processes of biomass-derived MFC anodes were systematically reviewed. To conclude, the drawbacks and prospects for biomass-derived carbon anodes are suggested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biocatalysts Advancement for Optimum Performance in Microbial Fuel Cells and Their Sub-types)

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