Rao Ankit, Kaushik Anubha, Kuppurangan Gunaseelan, Selvaraj Gajalakshmi
University School of Environment Management, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, 110078, India.
Sustainable Fuel Cells Technology Lab, Centre for Pollution Control & Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605 014, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Apr;30(16):45872-45887. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-25327-8. Epub 2023 Jan 28.
Field-scale application of the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology faces a major constraint due to the widely used high-cost proton exchange membrane Nafion, prompting lately, the development of ceramic membranes using different clay minerals. In the present study, the characteristics and applicability of a novel ceramic membrane fabricated using potter's clay (C) blended with varying proportions (0, 5, 10, and 20 wt%) of fly ash (FA), designated as CFA, CFA, CFA, and CFA, were assessed for cost-effective and sustainable use in MFC. On assessing the properties of the membrane, CFA was found to exhibit superior quality with fine pore size distribution (average 0.49 μm) favoring higher water uptake and less oxygen diffusion. The CFA membrane showed a maximum proton mass transfer coefficient (4.32 ± 0.04 × 10 cm/s) that was about three times that of the control CFA. The oxygen mass transfer coefficient of CFA was 5.13 ± 0.12 × 10 cm/s, which was about 40% less than in the control. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of CFA membrane revealed the richness of quartz, which facilitates proton conductance and water retention. The CFA membrane fitted MFC demonstrated a peak power output of 4.57 W/m (twice that in CFA) with an average of 80.02 ± 0.86% COD removal and 68.03 ± 0.13% coulombic efficiency in a long-term study indicating its improved applicability and durability. Electrochemical kinetics involving cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) also affirmed the efficacy of CFA membrane in MFC showing peak current output of 13.95 mA and low ohmic resistance (74.2 Ω). The novel (CFA) ceramic membrane amalgamated with the coal fly ash, a waste of concern, shows promise for high MFC performance at a much reduced (98% less) cost that can be used for sustainable scale-up of the technology.
由于广泛使用的高成本质子交换膜Nafion，微生物燃料电池（MFC）技术的现场规模应用面临重大限制，这促使近来人们开发使用不同粘土矿物的陶瓷膜。在本研究中，评估了一种新型陶瓷膜的特性和适用性，该陶瓷膜由陶土（C）与不同比例（0、5、10和20 wt%）的粉煤灰（FA）混合制成，分别命名为CFA、CFA、CFA和CFA，以评估其在MFC中经济高效且可持续的应用。在评估膜的性能时，发现CFA表现出优异的质量，具有良好的孔径分布（平均0.49μm），有利于更高的吸水率和更低的氧气扩散。CFA膜的最大质子传质系数为（4.32±0.04×10 cm/s），约为对照CFA的三倍。CFA的氧气传质系数为5.13±0.12×10 cm/s，比对照低约40%。CFA膜的X射线衍射（XRD）分析表明石英含量丰富，这有利于质子传导和保水。在一项长期研究中，装有CFA膜的MFC的峰值功率输出为4.57 W/m（是CFA的两倍），平均COD去除率为80.02±0.86%，库仑效率为68.03±0.13%，表明其适用性和耐久性得到了提高。涉及循环伏安法（CV）和电化学阻抗谱（EIS）的电化学动力学也证实了CFA膜在MFC中的有效性，其峰值电流输出为13.95 mA，欧姆电阻较低（74.2Ω）。这种与粉煤灰（一种令人关注的废弃物）混合的新型（CFA）陶瓷膜，有望以大幅降低（降低98%）的成本实现MFC的高性能，可用于该技术的可持续扩大规模。
