skip to main content

An Analysis of the Stacking Potential and Efficiency of Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells Growing Green Beans (Vigna ungiculata ssp. sesquipedalis)

1School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering and Sciences, Mapua University, Manila, Philippines

2Center for Renewable Bioenergy Research, Mapua University, Manila, Philippines

Received: 4 May 2020; Revised: 4 Jul 2020; Accepted: 19 Jul 2020; Available online: 3 Aug 2020; Published: 15 Oct 2020.
Editor(s): Marcelinus Christwardana, H. Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract
Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell (PMFC) technology is a promising bioelectrochemical system that can exploit natural plant rhizodeposition to generate electricity. PMFCs can be used to simultaneously generate electricity while growing edible plants, as illustrated in this study. However, the common problem encountered for soil PMFCs is the low power output. To solve this problem, the stacking behavior of PMFCs was examined to maximize the power output of several cells. A grid of 9 PMFCs (3x3) was constructed with stainless steel and carbon fiber electrodes growing green beans (V. ungiculata spp. sesquipedalis) for stacking purposes. Stacking results have shown that too many cells connected in series will result in voltage losses, while stacking in parallel conserves voltage between cells. Stacking a maximum of 3 cells in series is acceptable based on the results, since cumulative stacking revealed that voltage reversals can reduce the overall potential of the stack if there are too many connected cells. Stack combinations were also tested, resulting in an enhanced performance upon combining series and parallel connections allowing power to be amplified and power density to be conserved. The combination of three sets of three cells in series stacked in parallel (3S-P) generated the highest power and power density (160.86 μW/m2) amongst all combinations, showing that power amplification without losses to power density are possible in PMFC stacking. Overall, proper stacking combinations have been shown to greatly affect the performance of PMFCs. It is hoped that the results of this study will contribute to the efforts of applying PMFC technology on a larger scale.
Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: stacking efficiency; renewable energy; bioelectrochemical systems; plant-microbial fuel cells; solar bioenergy

Article Metrics:

  1. Aulakh, M., Wassmann, R., Bueno, C., Kreuzwieser, J., & Rennenberg, H. (2001). Characterization of root exudates at different growth stages of ten rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. Plant Biology, 3, 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2001-12905
  2. Bacilio-Jiménez, M., Aguilar-Flores, S., Ventura-Zapata, E., Pérez-Campos, E., Bouquelet, S., & Zenteno, E. (2003). Chemical characterization of root exudates from rice (Oryza sativa) and their effects on the chemotactic response of endophytic bacteria. Plant and Soil, 249(2), 271–277. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022888900465
  3. Bais, H. P., Weir, T. L., Perry, L. G., Gilroy, S., & Vivanco, J. M. (2006). the Role of Root Exudates in Rhizosphere Interactions With Plants and Other Organisms. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 57(1), 233–266. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.arplant.57.032905.105159
  4. Bajracharya, S., Sharma, M., Mohanakrishna, G., Dominguez, X., Strik, D. P. B. T. B., & Sarma, P. M. (2016). An overview on emerging bioelectrochemical systems (BESs): Technology for sustainable electricity , waste remediation , resource recovery , chemical production and beyond. Renewable Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.03.002
  5. De La Rosa, E. O., Castillo, J. V., Campos, M. C., Pool, G. R. B., Nuñez, G. B., Atoche, A. C., & Aguilar, J. O. (2019). Plant microbial fuel cells-based energy harvester system for self-powered IoT applications. Sensors (Switzerland), 19(6), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061378
  6. Eskew, D. L., Welch, R. M., & Cary, E. E. (1983). Nickel: An essential micronutrient for legumes and possibly all higher plants. Science, 222(4624), 621–623. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4624.621
  7. Estrada-Arriaga, E. B., Guillen-Alonso, Y., Morales-Morales, C., García-Sánchez, L., Bahena-Bahena, E. O., Guadarrama-Pérez, O., & Loyola-Morales, F. (2017). Performance of air-cathode stacked microbial fuel cells systems for wastewater treatment and electricity production. Water Science and Technology, 76(3), 683–693. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2017.253
  8. Greenman, J., & Ieropoulos, I. A. (2017). Allometric scaling of microbial fuel cells and stacks: The lifeform case for scale-up. Journal of Power Sources, 356, 365–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.04.033
  9. Gurung, A., & Oh, S. E. (2012). The improvement of power output from stacked microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects, 34(17), 1569–1576. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2012.660561
  10. Holland, B. L., Monk, N. A. M., Clayton, R. H., & Osborne, C. P. (2019). A theoretical analysis of how plant growth is limited by carbon allocation strategies and respiration. In Silico Plants, 1(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/insilicoplants/diz004
  11. Hou, J., Liu, Z., & Li, Y. (2015). Polyaniline Modified Stainless Steel Fiber Felt for High-Performance Microbial Fuel Cell Anodes. Journal of Clean Energy Technologies, 3(3), 165–169. https://doi.org/10.7763/jocet.2015.v3.189
  12. Ieropoulos, I. A., Greenman, J., & Melhuish, C. (2013). Miniature microbial fuel cells and stacks for urine utilisation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 38(1), 492–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.09.062
  13. Ishii, S., Ishii, S., Suzuki, S., Wu, A., Wu, A., Bretschger, O., … Yamanaka, Y. (2017). Population dynamics of electrogenic microbial communities in microbial fuel cells started with three different inoculum sources. Bioelectrochemistry, 117, 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioelechem.2017.06.003
  14. Khudzari, J. M., Gariepy, Y., Kurian, J., Tartakovsky, B., & Raghavan, G. S. V. (2018). Effects of biochar anodes in rice plant microbial fuel cells on the production of bioelectricity, biomass, and methane. Biochemical Engineering Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2018.10.012
  15. Kimbrough, D. E., Cohen, Y., Winer, A. M., Creelman, L., & Mabuni, C. (1999). A critical assessment of chromium in the environment. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 29(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389991259164
  16. Kläring, H. P., Hauschild, I., & Heißner, A. (2014). Fruit removal increases root-zone respiration in cucumber. Annals of Botany, 114(8), 1735–1745. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcu192
  17. Linares, R. V., Domínguez-Maldonado, J., Rodríguez-Leal, E., Patrón, G., Castillo-Hernández, A., Miranda, A., … Alzate-Gaviria, L. (2019). Scale up of microbial fuel cell stack system for residential wastewater treatment in continuous mode operation. Water, 11(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020217
  18. Liu, H., Zhang, B., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., & Hao, L. (2015). Continuous bioelectricity generation with simultaneous sulfide and organics removals in an anaerobic baffled stacking microbial fuel cell. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 40(25), 8128–8136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.04.103
  19. Logan, B. E., Hamelers, B., Rozendal, R., Schröder, U., Keller, J., Freguia, S., … Rabaey, K. (2006). Microbial fuel cells: Methodology and technology. Environmental Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0605016
  20. Nikhil, G. N., Krishna Chaitanya, D. N. S., Srikanth, S., Swamy, Y. V., & Venkata Mohan, S. (2018). Applied resistance for power generation and energy distribution in microbial fuel cells with rationale for maximum power point. Chemical Engineering Journal, 335(May 2017), 267–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.10.139
  21. Nitisoravut, R., & Regmi, R. (2017). Plant microbial fuel cells: A promising biosystems engineering. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76(March), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.064
  22. Nye, P. H. (1979). Diffusion of ions and uncharged solutes in soild and soil clays. Advances in Agronomy, 31
  23. Oh, S. E., & Logan, B. E. (2007). Voltage reversal during microbial fuel cell stack operation. Journal of Power Sources, 167(1), 11–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.02.016
  24. Pamintuan, K.R.S., Clomera, J. A. A., Garcia, K. V., Ravara, G. R., & Salamat, E. J. G. (2018). Stacking of aquatic plant-microbial fuel cells growing water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes). In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 191). https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/191/1/012054
  25. Pamintuan, Kristopher Ray S., Bagumba, I. H. P., & Domingo, Z. D. G. (2020). Compartmentalization studies of a deep-design batch Microbial Fuel Cell assembly. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1457(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1457/1/012010
  26. Pamintuan, Kristopher Ray S., & Sanchez, K. M. (2019). Power generation in a plant-microbial fuel cell assembly with graphite and stainless steel electrodes growing Vigna Radiata. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/703/1/012037
  27. Pequerul, A., Perez, C., Madero, P., Val, J., & Monge, E. (1993). Optimization of Plant Nutrition. Optimization of Plant Nutrition, (December 2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2496-8
  28. Reyes, C., Lat, D., & Pamintuan, K. R. S. (2018). Compartmentalization, polarization, and multiple electrode optimization in PMFCs with Cynodon dactylon
  29. Sarojam, P. (2010). Analysis of Wastewater for Metals using ICP-OES. Perkin Elmer Instruments
  30. Ueoka, N., Sese, N., Sue, M., Kouzuma, A., & Watanabe, K. (2016). Sizes of Anode and Cathode Affect Electricity Generation in Rice Paddy-Field Microbial Fuel Cells. Journal of Sustainable Bioenergy Systems, 06(01), 10–15. https://doi.org/10.4236/jsbs.2016.61002
  31. Vaidyanathan, L. V., Drew, M. C., & Nye, P. H. (1968). The measurement and mechanism of ion diffusion in soils, 19(1)
  32. Wetser, K., Dieleman, K., Buisman, C., & Strik, D. (2017). Electricity from wetlands: Tubular plant microbial fuels with silicone gas-diffusion biocathodes. Applied Energy, 185, 642–649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.10.122
  33. Yazdi, H., Alzate-Gaviria, L., & Ren, Z. J. (2015). Pluggable microbial fuel cell stacks for septic wastewater treatment and electricity production. Bioresource Technology, 180, 258–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.12.100
  34. Zhang, J., Li, J., Ye, D., Zhu, X., Liao, Q., & Zhang, B. (2014). Tubular bamboo charcoal for anode in microbial fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 272, 277–282
  35. Zhou, Y., Tang, L., Liu, Z., Hou, J., Chen, W., Li, Y., & Sang, L. (2017). A novel anode fabricated by three-dimensional printing for use in urine-powered microbial fuel cell. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 124, 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2017.04.012

Last update:

  1. Stacking of Novel 3D-Printed Hexagonal-Prism Plant Microbial Fuel Cells Growing Water Hyacinth (Pontederia Crassipes)

    Kristopher Ray Pamintuan, Hazelle Jae Abanilla, Luis Alfonso Dañez. 2023 International Conference on Power and Renewable Energy Engineering (PREE), 2023. doi: 10.1109/PREE57903.2023.10370095
  2. Stacking and design optimization of novel plant microbial fuel cell based on dwarf indoor decorative and culinary plants as a compact biobattery for a low energy consumption devices

    Iryna Rusyn, Oleksandr Medvediev. Bioresource Technology Reports, 26 , 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.biteb.2024.101860
  3. Design and Testing of 3D-Printed Stackable Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells for Field Applications

    Glenn Paula P Constantino, Justine Mae C. Dolot, Kristopher Ray Simbulan Pamintuan. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 12 (2), 2023. doi: 10.14710/ijred.2023.44872
  4. Stacking of 3D-Printed Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells with Green Chili (Capsicum Annuum)

    Miguel Joseph Lacson, Hannah Sophia Lopez, Kristopher Ray Pamintuan. 2023 11th International Conference on Smart Grid and Clean Energy Technologies (ICSGCE), 2023. doi: 10.1109/ICSGCE59477.2023.10419909
  5. Effect of Soil Properties on the Power Output Performance of Plant-Microbial Fuel Cells and Growth of Pechay (Brassica Rapa Subsp. Chinensis)

    Jaydel Marge Francisco, Janelle Macariola, Kristopher Ray Pamintuan. 2023 11th International Conference on Smart Grid and Clean Energy Technologies (ICSGCE), 2023. doi: 10.1109/ICSGCE59477.2023.10420423
  6. The mechanism of bioelectricity generation from organic wastes: soil/plant microbial fuel cells

    Gamze Karanfil Kacmaz, Numan Eczacioglu. Environmental Technology Reviews, 13 (1), 2024. doi: 10.1080/21622515.2023.2283814
  7. Stack Development and Power Generation Efficiency Analysis of 3D-Printed Plant Microbial Fuel Cells Growing Mung Beans (Vigna Radiata)

    Yumi Kimura, Gabrielle Angela Magdaluyo, Kristopher Ray Pamintuan. 2023 International Conference on Power and Renewable Energy Engineering (PREE), 2023. doi: 10.1109/PREE57903.2023.10370177
  8. Machine learning solutions for enhanced performance in plant-based microbial fuel cells

    Tuğba Gürbüz, M. Erdem Günay, N. Alper Tapan. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 78 , 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.06.417
  9. Trends in Environmental Sustainability and Green Energy

    Hazem Abdulrahim Atlam, Aziza I. Hussein. Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2023. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-27803-7_10
  10. Effects of substrates on the growth of BETA VULGARIS SUBSP. VULGARIS in hydroponic systems

    Ngo TUAN, Le LONG, Nguyen PHUC THİEN. Politeknik Dergisi, 26 (2), 2023. doi: 10.2339/politeknik.955013
  11. Constructed wetland microbial fuel cell as enhancing pollutants treatment technology to produce green energy

    Iryna Rusyn, Julio César Gómora-Hernández. Biotechnology Advances, 77 , 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2024.108468
  12. Effect of Plants Morphological Parameters on Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell Efficiency

    Iryna Rusyn, Oksana Fihurka, Vasyl Dyachok. Innovative Biosystems and Bioengineering, 6 (3-4), 2023. doi: 10.20535/ibb.2022.6.3-4.273108

Last update: 2024-11-03 20:06:30

No citation recorded.