Power generation characteristics of pulsed anaerobic fluidized bed microbial fuel cell

A novel type of pulsed anaerobic fluidized bed microbial fuel cell (PAFB-MFC) was proposed to enhance the electrochemical performance of the conventional anaerobic fluidized bed microbial fuel cell (AFB-MFC). An experimental system of the PAFB-MFC was designed and built to investigate the influence of the pulsed liquid flow, the particle sizes and the bed filling rates on the electrochemical performance. A comprehensive energy efficiency evaluation method for the PAFB-MFC was also proposed, which provided a convenient and intuitive method for finding the optimal working conditions. The experimental results showed that the PAFB-MFC had the advantages of better power generation performance and shorter wastewater treatment time. The power generation of the PAFB-MFC increased by about 0.54% similar to 8.11% and the wastewater treatment time was shortened by about 1.66-2.14 times compared to the AFB-MFC. This work provided good research basis for the industrialization development of MFC.