Energy model based on solar potential and the production of electrical energy through living plants’photosynthesis

Developing a sustainable energy model is imperative considering the current trend towards decarbonizing sectors worldwide.For this purpose,Venezuela was used as a reference to propose an energy model focused on taking advantage of plant photosynthesis through microbial-vegetable fuel cells together with an agro-photovoltaic system to enhance energy and agricultural production.Energy production from the cells was estimated using an average power density of 264 mW/m^(2) over 4%of the areas destined for crops in the entire Venezuelan region,obtaining an annual production of 19.889 GWh/year.In contrast,the energy production of the agro-photovoltaic system was modelled using PVsyst software on 50%of the area used for the cells distributed throughout the states of Anzoátegui,Guárico,Monagas and Portuguesa according to their meteorological conditions,solar irradiation and agricultural activity,resulting in 3703417 GWh/year.The resulting whole system proved to be able to cover>10 times the installed electricity generation capacity at a national level and,together with the tremendous scalability of the microbial fuel cells,it shows that Venezuela has a high potential for the production and distribution of clean energy.

Plant-microbial fuel cell for electrical generation through living plants: an internal resistance insight into the plant species used

Climate change is a global threat,the presence of which has encouraged the development and implementation of renewable energies,including plant–microbial fuel cells,which could generate 6629568–33147840 MWh per year due to their large-scale applicability.One of the main challenges associated with microbial cells is internal resistance—a parameter whose magnitude is influenced by sev-eral factors.In the case of plant–microbial fuel cells,adding a plant positively affects the mitigation of internal resistance.However,the species employed is expected to play an important role.In the present study,the objective was to determine as a general reference the internal resistance of cells using various plant species,among which were tomato(Solanum lycopersicum),black beans(Phaseolus vulgaris),aloe vera(Aloe vera),corn(Zea mays),and moss(Dicranidae).For this purpose,an experimental procedure was carried out to compare the manual voltage measurements with a free cell concerning the voltage obtained by adding an external resistor in series.The internal resistance values were determined as a function of the measured voltage,obtaining 177,179,175,324,and 233 kΩfor aloe vera,corn,tomato,black beans,and moss,respectively.From this,it was shown that the roots of the plants represent an essen-tial addition to the internal resistance of the cell in the short term.In contrast,plants with a C4 photosynthetic metabolism are more favourable,while C3 plants can also benefit from internal resistance during a more extended period of rhizodeposition.

Production of electrical energy from living plants in microbial fuel cells

Growing energy demand is a current problem with greater incidence in the future.The research objective is to establish seed bases to give a leading role to plants used in anthropogenic production activities and consumption,and even plants belonging to wildlife in terms of energy production.The use of living plants to obtain electrical energy through a microbial-vegetable fuel cell is proposed as a mech-anism to supply the energy demand with easy access worldwide,especially in areas far from urban centres.In this work,the voltage produced by microbial-vegetable fuel cells was measured using graphite electrodes and plants belonging to the species of aloe(Aloe vera),corn(Zea mays),black beans(Phaseolus vulgaris),tomato(Solanum lycopersicum)and moss(Dicranidae).They were selected for their presence in everyday life and their great commercial and agricultural value,reaching a maximum voltage of 884 mV from moss.There is evidence that all plants can be a source of energy to a greater or lesser extent and that their performance is given by the plant root interactions at the electrodes.However,an extensive root system can favour the accumulation of substrate after the hydrolysis of dead roots,provided that their presence does not interfere with microbial activity on the anodic surface.For this,using plants with low resistance to thermal stress can lead to a substrate richer in substances that can be decomposed.Therefore,it is recommended to use plants according to their life cycle and the morphology of their roots,and plants that can grow in waterlogged conditions or without direct contact with the Sun.