微生物燃料电池堆栈的设计开发与应用进展

Research Advances in the Development and Applications of Microbial Fuel Cell Stacks

微生物燃料电池可将环境废水中的化学能转化为电能,并驱动和强化有机污染物降解,是生物电化学环境修复、清洁能源开发很有应用潜力的解决方案.目前,微生物燃料电池在实际应用中还存在着电池规模小、输出电能低等工程问题,成为限制其性能和规模化应用的核心瓶颈,因此需要对微生物燃料电池进行规模化放大.然而,单纯地增加单体微生物燃料电池的体积,将增加电池内阻,导致能量损失加大,限制微生物燃料电池输出功率进一步提高,不适合工程化应用.微生物燃料电池堆栈是在保持单体微生物燃料电池性能的基础上,通过将多个单体微生物燃料电池进行串并联连接,从而有效提高微生物燃料电池的输出电压、电流以及功率,是实现微生物燃料电池规模化放大的主要手段,已经广泛应用于复杂环境中低劣生物质发电、废水处理以及化学品合成等领域.本文基于微生物燃料电池堆栈的工作原理,从产电微生物、电极材料、电池结构以及电池传质等多个方面系统分析了影响微生物燃料电池堆栈性能的关键因素,总结了微生物燃料电池堆栈结构和电路管理系统的设计原理与工程技术,分析了微生物燃料电池堆栈的重点应用领域,并针对其未来的研究方向进行了展望,以促进微生物燃料电池堆栈的工业化应用.

Microbial fuel cells(MFCs)can convert chemical energy in wastewater into electrical energy and facilitate the degradation of organic pollutants,making them a promising solution for environmental remediation and clean energy.Their industrial applications are currently hindered by several obstacles,including their smaller operational scale and lower power output.Therefore,it is necessary to scale up MFCs.Due to the sharp increase in internal resistance and energy loss,only enlarging the size of the MFC has a limiting effect on the output power,which is unsuit-able for engineering applications.MFC stacks can efficiently enhance output performance by connecting multiple sin-gle MFCs in series or parallel.It is the primary method for scaling up MFCs,which has been widely applied in com-plex environments,such as power generation from biomass,wastewater treatment,and chemical synthesis.In this study,the advancements in exoelectrogens,electrode materials,MFC structure,and mass transfer that affect MFC stack properties were systematically summarized based on the MFC stack operation mechanism.Meanwhile,the de-sign principles and engineering technologies of the structure and power management system were reviewed.By ana-lyzing the vital applications of MFC stacks,we provide a perspective on how they will be studied in the future,which will help their industrial applications.