Effects of External Resistance on Microbial Fuel Cell’s Performance

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bioelectrochemical devices able to convert chemical energy into electricity. This chapter describes the effect of the external resistance on the performance of a MFC. Firstly, the state of the art of this topic has been comprehensively revised, and the effect of external resistance on cell voltage, anode potential, current and power generated, microbial diversity, structure and morphology of the biofilm, microbial metabolism and organic matter removal, coulombic efficiency, and time of stability is reported. Also, different methods to the control of external resistance as a function of internal resistance changing are explained. After that, the effect of changes in the external resistance on power generated and COD removal in a microscale MFC, used to treat wastewater, was studied. The obtained results indicated that when external resistance was increased, the power decreased. However, hysteresis was observed due to change in microbial diversity in the anode. During the first phase of increment of external resistance, the maximum power exerted, 1.69 × 10−3 mW, was obtained with a 2,700 Ω load. However, when decreasing the external resistance, the maximum power, 1.27 × 10−3 mW, was obtained with a 2,200 Ω load. Regarding COD removal, the effluent COD decreased when external resistance was increased, that is, the wastewater treatment was enhanced when external resistance was higher.

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