Comparison of membrane- and cloth-cathode assembly for scalable microbial fuel cells: Construction, performance and cost

The aim of this study is to compare the performance of different membrane cathode assembly (MCA) and cloth-cathode assembly (CCA) in air-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and provide an optimum cathode configuration for MFC scaling up. Two MCAs were prepared by hot-pressing carbon cloth containing cathodic catalyst to anion exchange membrane (AEM) and cation exchange membrane (CEM), respectively. A CCA was built by coating GORE-TEX® cloth with a mixture of nickel-based conductive paint and cathodic catalyst. Under the fed-batch mode using brewery wastewater, the MFCs were compared with respect to power production, coulombic efficiency, COD removal, internal resistance and material cost. The experimental results show that CCA is a more favorable alternative than MCAs due to its easier preparation, higher maximum power density and COD removal, and lower internal resistance and cost. The optimum cathode assembly of CCA is cost-effective and mechanically robust enough to meet the important requirements for MFC scalability.