Microbial Fuel Cells Indicators of Performance

Abstract

The world is facing diverse challenges on account of increasing population. newlineLimited fossil fuel reserves have warranted the quest for renewable sources of newlineenergy. Increased emission of greenhouse gases has hastened the transition to newlinecarbon-neutral sources of energy. Excessive consumption of water for domestic newlineand industrial applications has resulted in a higher demand for more efficient newlinewastewater treatment technologies. Based on microbial oxidation of organic newlinesubstances, microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology confers dual benefits of newlinewastewater treatment with simultaneous production of clean energy. The newlinerelevance of such a technology in the semi-arid, drought-prone district of newlineAnantapur in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where the Sri Sathya Sai Institute newlineof Higher Learning is located, prompted the choice of this topic for the doctoral newlineresearch work. newlineConcerted multi-disciplinary efforts across the globe have directed MFC newlineresearch towards scaling-up for practical applications. However, it is also very newlineessential to evolve performance measurement systems to assess and monitor newlinethe various biotic and abiotic components that constitute MFCs. Keeping the newlinestudy of microbial electron transfer in MFCs as the main focus, this work has newlineresulted in the following contributions: newline