S. BALAMURUGAN, B.RAMESH, K.KAVITHA AND V. GURUCHANDRAN
Abstract
A Microbial fuel cell is an electrochemical device that continuously converts chemical energy to electrical energy for as long as fuel and oxidant are supplied to it. A complete oxidation of one mole of glucose to CO2 would liberate 24 moles of electrons. Therefore, a total of 2.32 ×106 C of charge per mole of glucose is potentially available to be channelled through an electrical circuit. The magnitude of the current generated from this oxidative process would depend largely on the rate of metabolism. In the present study two chambered microbial fuel cell was fabricated, maximum current of 1.9 mV was generated by Hansenula anomala with duration of 96 hrs in the presence of 0.5 g/L of humic acid. In the absence of humic acid 1.4 mV was generated at 96 hrs duration. The results showed that humic acid greatly enhanced the efficiency of bioelectricity generation and acts as a mediator.