Electricity and hydrogen co-production from a bio-electrochemical cell with acetate substrate

• A novel bioelectrochemical cell is designed to produce hydrogen and electricity.
• Thermodynamic barrier of acetate to hydrogen was overcome without bias potential.
• The anode efficiency of 3.9% and cathode efficiency of 41% was achieved.

In the present research, a novel bio-electrochemical cell was designed by using a bipolar membrane to separate the anode and the cathode chambers to overcome the thermodynamic barrier for hydrogen production from acetate. By using this configuration, hydrogen could be produced on cathode without the aid of bias potential or photo irradiation. In the designed bio-electrochemical cell, with 0.1 mol L−1 sulfuric acid as catholyte, acetate could be oxidized on bio-anode with additional electricity generated spontaneously. With an external resistance of 400 Ω, the maximum power density of 0.0145 W m−2 could be achieved. In the present design, the anode efficiency of 3.9% and cathode efficiency of 41% could be obtained, respectively.