Sustainable and renewable electric energy generation with continuous flow enzymatic fuel cell

Abstract

A continuous flow enzymatic fuel cell (EFC) based on poly(pyrrole-co-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid) film was used for sustainable energy generation. The system parameters were optimized to generate maximum power. Optimum cycle number for electropolymerization was found to be 12.5 for bioanode, and 20 for biocathode.The best performance was reached at pH 7, 1 ml min À1 flow rate and cell potential of 0.51 V. A power density of 0.36 μW cm À2 in 10 min was generated with 0.86 μg glucose dehydrogenase and 0.35 μg bilirubin oxidase enzyme quantity by using 100 mmol L À1 glucose. The EFC performance was investigated with municipal sewage, and the system generated a power density of 0.85 μW cm À2 . Results showed that the proposed EFC could be successfully used at waste utilization, especially for the wastewater with glycolytic content.