The Supergen5 Biological Fuel Cells Consortium
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Chemistry
Abstract
A consortium of teams from 6 universities aims to achieve major advances in a technology that potentially produces electricity directly from sustainable biological materials and air, in devices known as biological fuel cells. These devices are of two main types: in microbial fuel cells micro-organisms convert organic materials into fuels that can be oxidised in electrochemical cells, and in enzymatic fuel cells electricity is produced as a result of the action of an enzyme (a biological catalyst). Fuels that can be used include (1) pure biochemicals such as glucose, (2) hydrogen gas and (3) organic chemicals present in waste water.The Consortium programme involves a unique combination of microbiology, enzymology, electrochemistry, materials science and computational modelling. Key challenges that the Consortium will face include modelling and understanding the interaction of an electrochemical cell and a population of micro-organisms, attaching and optimising appropriate enzymes, developing and studying synthetic assemblies that contain the active site of a natural enzyme, optimising electrode materials for this application, and designing, building and testing novel biological fuel cells.A Biofuel Cells Industrial Club is to be formed, with industrial partners active in water management, porous materials, microbiology, biological catalysis and fuel cell technology. The programme and its outcomes will be significant steps towards producing electricity from materials and techniques originating in the life sciences. The technology is likely to be perceived as greener than use of solely chemical and engineering approaches, and there is considerable potential for spin off in changed technologies (e.g. cost reductions, reduction in the need for precious metals, biological catalysts for production of hydrogen by electrolysis).
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- Kelda Group (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Anglian Water Services (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Thames Water (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Heraeus (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- MAST Carbon (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- CMR Surgical (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Biocatalysts (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Popov A
(2012)
The effect of physico-chemically immobilized methylene blue and neutral red on the anode of microbial fuel cell
in Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering
Amini N
(2011)
Processing of strong and highly conductive carbon foams as electrode
in Carbon
Ibrahim S
(2010)
Artificial hydrogenases: assembly of an H-cluster analogue within a functionalised poly(pyrrole) matrix.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Armstrong FA
(2009)
Dynamic electrochemical investigations of hydrogen oxidation and production by enzymes and implications for future technology.
in Chemical Society reviews
Zhao F
(2009)
Techniques for the study and development of microbial fuel cells: an electrochemical perspective.
in Chemical Society reviews
Michie I
(2011)
The influence of psychrophilic and mesophilic start-up temperature on microbial fuel cell system performance
in Energy & Environmental Science
Kim J
(2011)
Increasing power recovery and organic removal efficiency using extended longitudinal tubular microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactors
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Blanford CF
(2008)
Efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction by the 'blue' copper oxidase, laccase, directly attached to chemically modified carbons.
in Faraday discussions
Hunt NT
(2016)
Detection of Transient Intermediates Generated from Subsite Analogues of [FeFe] Hydrogenases.
in Inorganic chemistry
Kim J
(2009)
Development of a tubular microbial fuel cell (MFC) employing a membrane electrode assembly cathode
in Journal of Power Sources
Description | How Hydrogenases Work at the Atomic Level |
Amount | £722,942 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/N006321/1 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2016 |
End | 03/2019 |