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• Inexpensive Proton Exchange Membranes

  Josh Starnes • 08/10/2018 at 19:38 • 0 comments

  Here is a research update for the project

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405653716300835 -  super info

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385132 cabon as electrode material
  

  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322715435_The_Effect_of_Increasing_Surface_Area_of_Graphite_Electrode_on_the_Performance_of_Dual_Chamber_Microbial_Fuel_CellsThe_Effect_of_Increasing_Surface_Area_of_Graphite_Electrode_on_the_Performance_of_Dua

  increasing surface area = increase mah output
  

  terra cotta as a pem, it looks promising BUT there are many details that are not avail to do this as a DIY home project and in the efforts of OPEN and DIY I will stick with more avail materials

  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00449-013-0967-6
  

  Study on Agar as a electolytic / PEM

  https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5029150
  

  A BI POLAR membrane,  two membranes in dual chamber with center transitional chamber

  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21553769.2016.1230787
  

• Hacking Low Cost Ceramic for Membranes in Fuel cells

  Josh Starnes • 08/04/2018 at 22:13 • 0 comments

  So I have been doing a bit of reading on various materials. There have been studies conducted on earthenware membranes.  This was a clever suggestion from Mechanicus. Terra Cotta is one of these. Though I could spend lots of money on custom made film membranes, in the spirit of hackaday I need to HACK something that is both common , repeatable and effective. I believe earth based/ clay membranes would be much better as the cost is less than 10 percent that of a designer membrane from somewhere like fuelcellstore.com for example.

  https://www.homedepot.com/p/Daltile-Quarry-Tile-Red-Blaze-6-in-x-6-in-Ceramic-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-11-sq-ft-case-0Q40661P/202653720

  36 dollars plus tax for 11 sq ft of  PEM / Cation Membrane material is a fantastically priced over the designer films
  

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4744959/

  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257205341_Comparing_the_short_and_long_term_stability_of_biodegradable_ceramic_and_cation_exchange_membranes_in_microbial_fuel_cells

  http://www.clays.org/journal/archive/volume%2012/12-1-397.pdf

  https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2015/864568/ good article related to my setup
  

• Tiny update, Researching the next cell design

  Josh Starnes • 08/01/2018 at 13:17 • 0 comments

  No building or design as been done at this time while another collaborator and myself research the logical next steps. We are coming up with options for Proton Exchange membranes. Namely what we would like to so is have a membrane that satisfies more than on need or a system that takes advantage of CO2 creating bacteria to feed the requirements of the micro algae on the other side of a cell. Some research must be done to determine is the electrode itself must be in plain view of light.

• 3 weeks Algae Growth

  Josh Starnes • 07/27/2018 at 01:19 • 0 comments

  A picture  doesn’t do it justice because my phone keeps raising the contrast of the picture thinking it is too dark when the algae is centered in the frame. Without this significant brightness increase you can’t see the tubes inside the liquid. Shortly I will get a second Algae Container and Split the current sample I have so I can make a bigger setup in the future for version 2 of the semi permeable membrane upgrade to the design.

• researching phase two, Permeable membrane use

  Josh Starnes • 07/24/2018 at 22:48 • 0 comments

  https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/power-generation-by-algal-microbial-fuel-cell-along-with-simultaneoustreatment-of-sugar-industry-wastewater-2155-9821-1000323.pdf

  Introduction
  Microbial fuel cell is the promising technology for clean power
  generation and has gained lot of attention in recent years. Нe algae
  obtained aіer MFC utilization can be further used for the production
  of biodiesel, green diesel or bioethanol [1,2]. Complete utilization of
  biomass is important for the transition to biofuels and bioeconomy [3].
  Microbial fuel cell (MFC) consists of an anodic and a cathodic
  chamber, separated by a proton exchange membrane (PEM). At anode,
  organic compounds are oxidized by the microorganisms and electrons
  move towards cathode through an external circuit and combine with
  an electron acceptor (mainly oxygen) to generate electricity. At
  cathode, oxygen is supplied continuously by aeration which is an
  energy consuming process. In MFCs, mediators can accelerate the
  process of electron transfer [4]. Recently, the concepts of MFCs have
  been extended into dLوٴerent technologies such as Bio-Electrochemical
  Systems (BESs) which produce numerous useful products such as
  formate, [5] methane [6] and acetate [7]. Нe microbial desalination
  cell is the most attractive option as this can be successfully
  implemented for power generation, treatment of wastewater with the
  simultaneous desalination of water [8]. MFCs can be used for the
  production of hydrogen gas [9], powering environmental sensors and
  digital wrist watch, charging a mobile phone, smartphone and LEDs
  [10-13]. MFCs are also coupled with solar cells for power production
  [14] which provides opportunities for utilizing solar energy in this
  field. Future applications of MFCs may include their use in human
  systems as well.
  Utilization of microalgae in MFCs has gained interest as
  phototrophic microalgae act as biocatholytes as the oxygen produced
  by them serves as final electron acceptor, minimizing the energy
  needed for the aeration at the cathode. Earlier work from author's
  laboratory was reported on the H2 production from algae and its
  utilization in carbon fuel cells for power generation [15]. Later work
  involved the studies of the potential of power generation from algal
  MFCs [2]. In the present study, potential of two strains of a green
  colonial hydrocarbon (petroleum oil) rich microalga, Boryococcus
  braunii, has been analyzed for its application in MFCs while
  generating biomass for oil production. In these MFCs, green algal
  strains have been used at the cathode as the source of photosynthetic
  oxygen as electron acceptor, whereas sugar industry wastewater with
  activated sludge, S. cerevisiae culture alone and S. cerevisiae with
  supplementation of methylene blue (350 mg/L) was used at the anode.
  НLs technology has great potential to couple the algal and yeast
  biomass cultivation for the oil and bioethanol production, respectively,
  along with wastewater treatment and power generation. Algal biomass
  obtained from MFCs may be used for the production of biodiesel and
  for bioethanol production through hydroliquefaction. 

  Materials and Methods
  Experimental organisms
  Two strains of B. braunii, Udaisagar strain from Udaisagar lake,
  Udaipur Rajasthan, India and Loktak strain from Loktak lake,
  Manipur, India, were isolated by serial dilution method and plating on
  the solLdLfied Chu-13 medium [16] which were grown and maintained
  under controlled conditions in an incubator. Saccharomyces cerevisae
  (Bakers's yeast), obtained from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,
  New Delhi, India was revived by adding 1.3 gm yeast powder in 1 L
  Sayed et al. medium [17] for 16 h at 27°C temperature in dark.
  MFC design and operation
  Нe MFC contained two chambers, an anode and a cathode, each of
  250 ml capacity with 6.5 cm diameter and 12 cm length and with
  electrode area of approximately 30 cm2
  . Both the electrodes were made
  up of carbon and separated by a proton exchange membrane (1afion).
  A digital multimeter (Haqyue) was connected...

  Read more »

• Test unit charging a phone!

  Josh Starnes • 07/16/2018 at 15:39 • 0 comments

  There are 8 cells I setup as proof of concept. I still needed more materials and cellophane as a permeable membrane to allow ions and oxygen CO2 exchange between half cells. When I qualify for the next round I will upgrade the setup with more appropriate materials and stuff

• Algae Cultivation at 9 days and ready to res-pirate

  Josh Starnes • 07/14/2018 at 19:13 • 0 comments

  The algae is getting darker, almost too dark to see even the air hoses or pump inside. Another day and it will be pumping through the microbial fuel cell setup. :)

• 24 Cells Plumbed Bacteria / Algae Respirator

  Josh Starnes • 07/14/2018 at 16:28 • 0 comments

  This is the actual setup I plan on building tomorrow on my day off so it can be demonstrated on video for the hackaday project submission.  This is version 1. Version 2 will use a Selectively permeable membrane to allow the electrons and oxygen / Co2 exchange through the membrane only carrying the ions from cathode to the anode.
  

• salt bridge test 1.7 volts, Yeah !!

  Josh Starnes • 07/13/2018 at 15:13 • 0 comments

  Testing out the gel salt bridge , it functioned great but then the gell started melting. Sad times. I may do a rope . fabric salt bridge as a replacement. 1.7 volts while the salt bridge was intact. :)

• Comparison My Cell versus Their Cell

  Josh Starnes • 07/13/2018 at 15:10 • 0 comments

  Not my video , but I wanted a direct comparison to other types of microbial fuel cells out there. This little guy produces .200 volts or 200 mv , which is not enough to power much as far as voltage goes , but if he made several cells and scaled them he could power an led perhaps. SO FAR with only a half cell we are getting 5 times with microbial cells voltage. When I tested both cells with a salt bridge I get 1.7 volts which is 8-9 times the voltage. Also the amount of volume required is about 1/10 this , so that could be a good thing.

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