Hyunsoo Moon¹, In Seop Chang, Byung Hong Kim^*

Water Environment and Remediation Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, 39-1, Hawolgok-dong, Sungpook-ku, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea

¹ Present address: Department of Biochemical Engineering, Yanbian University of Science and Technology, Beishan Street, Yanji, Jilin 133000, China

^*Corresponding author : Byung Hong Kim

Abstract
A microbial fuel cell (MFC) was optimized in terms of MFC design factors and operational parameters for continuous electricity production using artificial wastewater (AW). The performance of MFC was analyzed through the polarization curve method under different conditions using a mediator-less MFC. The highest power density of 0.56 W/m² was achieved with AW of 300 mg/l fed at the rate of 0.53 ml/min at 35 °C. The power per unit cell working volume was 102 mW/l, which was over 60 times higher than those reported in the previous mediator-less MFCs which did not use a cathode or an anode mediator. The power could be stably generated over 2 years.

Keywords : Microbial fuel cell; Mediator; Power density; Current density; Polarization curve