Supercapacitive microbial desalination cells: New class of power generating devices for reduction of salinity content

Carlo Santoro, Fernando Benito Abad, Alexey Serov, Mounika Kodali, Kerry J. Howe, Francesca Soavi and Plamen Atanassov

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 208, issue C, No S0306261917314770, 25-36

Abstract: In this work, the electrodes of a microbial desalination cell (MDC) are investigated as the positive and negative electrodes of an internal supercapacitor. The resulting system has been named a supercapacitive microbial desalination cell (SC-MDC). The electrodes are self-polarized by the red-ox reactions and therefore the anode acts as a negative electrode and the cathode as a positive electrode of the internal supercapacitor. In order to overcome cathodic losses, an additional capacitive electrode (AdE) was added and short-circuited with the SC-MDC cathode (SC-MDC-AdE). A total of 7600 discharge/self-recharge cycles (equivalent to 44 h of operation) of SC-MDC-AdE with a desalination chamber filled with an aqueous solution of 30 g L−1 NaCl are reported. The same reactor system was operated with real seawater collected from Pacific Ocean for 88 h (15,100 cycles). Maximum power generated was 1.63 ± 0.04 W m−2 for SC-MDC and 3.01 ± 0.01 W m−2 for SC-MDC-AdE. Solution conductivity in the desalination reactor decreased by ∼50% after 23 h and by more than 60% after 44 h. There was no observable change in the pH during cell operation. Power/current pulses were generated without an external power supply.

Keywords: Supercapacitive Microbial Desalination Cell (SC-MDC); Additional Electrode (AdE); Power/current pulses; High power generation; Transport phenomena (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.056

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