Electricity generation from river sediments using a partitioned open channel sediment microbial fuel cell

A partitioned open channel sediment microbial fuel cell (POCSMFC) was constructed and the possibility of connecting two conventional sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) at different water flow rates was examined. At high water flow rate of 120 L h−1, the series connection of the POCSMFC approached a maximum power of 0.25 mW whereas a maximum power of 0.065 mW was recorded when the water flow rate was set to 5 L h−1. The series stack underwent energy loss owing to voltage reversal and lateral ion cross conduction. When connected in parallel mode, the parallel stack generated a maximum power of 0.31 and 0.107 mW at high and low water flow rate, respectively, suggesting that much less energy losses occurred as a result of the parallel connection compared to the series connection. These new findings associated with the POCSMFC may present a new opportunity to harvest electrical energy for fresh water environment.