Scale-up of a novel bioelectrochemical technology for the conversion of hydrogen to electricity

The main goal of this work was to study the performance and stability during the scale-up process of the BioGenerator, which is the first commercially-viable microbial fuel cell for the biological conversion of hydrogen to electricity. The effect of scale increase on the entire BioGenerator, as well as each of its two main components - the biological (the bioreactor) and the electrochemical one (the electrochemical stack) was studied using two main parameters the power generation per unit volume and the volumetric iron biooxidation in the bioreactor. The scale-up from 0.2 L to 600 L liquid volume, or more than three orders of magnitude, was performed. The power generated from these units varied between 0.06 and 275 Watt, respectively. It was shown that the volume increase from 0.2 L to 600 L did not result in a significant decrease in the main parameters of the BioGenerator, including the bioreactor and the electrochemical stack. The electric power generation per unit volume obtained at a current density of 100 mA cm(-1) decreased by only 35% after 3000 times scale increase. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.