Utilization of Organic Waste in a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell for Sustainable Electricity Generation

Andrzej Kacprzak () and Renata Włodarczyk
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Andrzej Kacprzak: Department of Advanced Energy Technologies, Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Czestochowa University of Technology, Dąbrowskiego 73, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland
Renata Włodarczyk: Department of Advanced Energy Technologies, Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Czestochowa University of Technology, Dąbrowskiego 73, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: There is much organic waste that comes from by-products of agriculture and product processing, solid waste from livestock, and municipal waste. Conventional methods that are widely used for the treatment and management of organic fractions of waste are landfilling, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis. Among the above methods, pyrolysis is a relatively simple, robust, and scalable technology for transforming diverse organic waste feedstock into renewable energy products. Recently, the electrochemical conversion of biochar into electricity in direct carbon fuel cells (DCFC) has also been investigated and shown to be feasible and highly efficient. This paper focuses on the utilization of organic waste as a fuel and the investigation of their characteristics during electrochemical reactions in molten hydroxide direct carbon fuel cells (MH-DCFCs). Organic waste of different origins (the food-processing industry, urban and suburban areas, municipal solid organic waste, sewage sludge) with diversified characteristics was used as the main feedstock. The lowest power density was determined for sewage sludge (5.1 mW cm −2 ), and the best results were obtained for peanut shells (53.14 mW cm −2 ). This study concludes that higher elemental carbon, lower ash content and the presence of reactive surface oxygen functional groups in biochar obtained from organic waste might contribute to better cell performance. Moreover, the research establishes the potential of carbonized organic waste as a prospective alternative fuel source for power generation in an MH-DCFC.

Keywords: direct carbon fuel cell; molten hydroxide electrolyte; biochar; organic waste; waste utilization; waste to energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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