Algae-assisted microbial fuel cells: A practical overview
Nethraa Kannan, Philip Donnellan
Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been a major topic of interest since the early 2000s. To overcome the scale-up issues posed with using only bacteria, studies have been carried out operating MFCs with algae-assisted cathodes (AFCs) to treat wastewater and produce electricity. Algae produce O2 during photosynthesis which drives down the operating cost as sparging air is not required. The biomass obtained is also used as biofuel thus making wastewater treatment environmentally friendly and economical. This review focuses on developments made in understanding the effect of reactor components and using this to improve power densities in AFCs. Since this is a rapidly evolving field, the review provides a comprehensive overview of the topic to novices and experts in the field alike and discusses methods to improve large-scale and practical applications of this technology in wastewater treatment.