Performance of planar and cylindrical carbon electrodes at sedimentary microbial fuel cells

This paper presents data obtained using an indigenous microbial community contained in anaerobic sediments (mud) collected from the shore of the Río de La Plata River (South America). After the sedimentary microbial fuel cells were assembled the evolution of current and power vs. time was studied. Two types of commercially available graphite materials were used as electrodes, which differ mainly in shape and size. In some experiments, an external carbon source (acetate) increased the power generation rate. The maximum power density observed in the aforementioned condition was 19.57 ± 0.35 and 8.72 ± 1.39 mW/m2 using rod and graphite disk electrodes, respectively. The better performance of the rod electrodes can be explained, at least in part, by an enhanced rate of mass transport by radial diffusion. DGGE fingerprints were used to study the electrogenic community growing over the electrodes. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Fil: Sacco, Natalia Jimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina Fil: Figuerola, Eva Lucia Margarita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina