Electric potentials or currents generated by or present within living cells, tissues, or organisms.
Published in Chapter:
Extremophiles in Sustainable Bioenergy Production as Microbial Fuel Cells
Mukta Kothari (Modern College of Arts, Science, and Commerce (Autonomous), India), Leena Gaurav Kulkarni (Praj Matrix R&D Center, Praj Industries Ltd., India), Divita Gupta (Institut de Physique de Rennes, CNRS, University of Rennes, France), and Rebecca Thombre (Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, USA)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 22
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9144-4.ch014
Abstract
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is considered one of the renewable sources of energy for the production of bioelectricity from waste. Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental considerations, MFC haa garnered increasing importance as it is a sustainable and environmentally-friendly method of generation of bioenergy. In MFC, electroactive bacteria (EAB) and biofilms are harnessed to convert organic substances to electrical energy. Extremophiles survive in extreme environments, and they have demonstrated potential applications in microbial electrical systems (MES) and MFC technology. The key limitations of MFC are the low power output and engineering constraints of the fuel cell. Hence, it is imperative to understand the genetics, key metabolic pathways, and molecular mechanisms of the EAB for enhancing the power generation in MFC. This chapter gives a brief overview of the scope and applications of extremophiles in wastewater treatment, bioelectricity, and biohydrogen production using MFC, eventually enhancing the functional efficiency of MFC.