Dynamic modeling of a continuous two-chamber microbial fuel cell with pure culture of Shewanella

Microbial fuel cell is a bioreactor which converts the chemical energy stored in chemical bonds of the organic compounds to electrical energy through the catalytic reactions. In this work, the previous model which was proposed by our group [M. Esfandyari, M.A. Fanaei, R. Gheshlaghi, M.A. Mahdavi, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 117 (2017) 34-42] for a batch two-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) is extended to the continuous operation. In the selected continuous MFC, lactate is used as the substrate, Shewanella as the microbial agent, and oxygen of air as the final electron acceptor in the cathode chamber. An experimental setup is applied for the collection of data needed for the verification of the proposed model. A Good agreement was observed between the predicted and the experimental data of the current and voltage produced by MFC as well as the substrate and carbon dioxide concentration in the liquid bulk of anode chamber of MFC. The proposed model has simple structure and can be used for the optimization, and design of control system of microbial fuel cell.