Waste Made Useful by Microbial Fuel Cells for Energy Generation

The world is facing some of the greatest challenges in terms of environmental welfare and energy supply. The latest EU directives on energy appliances dictate lower power consumption even on standby operation. At the forefront of publicity, Hollywood is driving towards greener movie productions. The Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) has failed to commit the largest fossil fuel consumer nations in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this there is still increased enthusiasm towards renewable energy production. This is clearly because fossil fuel combustion is costly and cutting back on carbon emissions is even more expensive; renewables on the other hand are freely available. A sustainable energy portfolio should include a range of carbon-neutral and renewable energy technologies. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent vitally developing technology for sustainable energy production and waste treatment. They convert chemical energy of feedstock into electricity by using micro-organisms, which act as biocatalysts. MFCs are still in their early stages of development but with great potential to bring about innovation and become true alternatives to fossil fuel energy generation. The applicant has already demonstrated world first results (EcoBots and small scale-multi unit efficiency improvements) in this multi-disciplinary technological area, demonstrating that he is leading the way globally both in research and application of MFCs. Interest from the scientific and industrial communities is rapidly increasing, leading to collaborations with wastewater treatment industry and robotics. Investment both in this pioneering applicant and this burgeoning area is ripe. MFCs offer advantages such as simultaneous waste clean-up and electricity production; this Fellowship therefore directly addresses national and international priorities. Current research in the field is showing that individual units are thermodynamically limited, producing relatively low energy output levels, emphasising the need for scale-up. The applicant was the first to demonstrate (see attached Publications list Nos. 2, 5, 13) that more efficient energy harvesting takes place in small-scale MFC units and thus there is a natural drive for miniaturisation and multiple-unit stack development. More importantly, it is becoming apparent amongst the international MFC community that one of the technology's bottlenecks is the cathodic half-cell, which can be significantly improved using micro-algae. In the field of sustainable energy production , this proposal will integrate three major areas: (i) Multi-MFC unit stack; (ii) Self-sustainable cathodes; (iii) Waste clean-up.This Fellowship will both consolidate research findings and break into new areas, enabling cross-fertilisation of research results and thereby achieving developments faster than consecutive research projects would allow. It will develop the career of the applicant as a world leading researcher and budding academic, as well as developing the research skills of the research team he will build around him. This is built on the solid foundation of research to date. The Fellow will continue to collaborate with his mentors, ensuring his personal career development plan can be realised, maximising his potential as a research leader.The long term Vision of this Fellowship is twofold; 1) to develop MFCs into a mature sustainable energy technology with a direct application in everyday life that could change the way people think about energy and human waste; 2) to develop a team of researchers skilled in multi-disciplinary approaches led by the applicant who is already at the forefront of this research area globally.

In order to ensure future impact of this work on beneficiaries the following mechanisms are in place: (i) the work will be carried out in close collaboration with Wessex Water an important private sector company with global reach, as part of the YTL Group of Companies; (ii) UWE is highly active in bridging the gap between academia and private sector by encouraging joint knowledge transfer projects and networking events. During the course of the project it is expected that further interactions with the private sector will be sought (e.g. water utility companies, sensor companies, producers of scientific devices, bathroom suites manufacturers etc.) and new technical developments will be pursued (with undergraduate project students, with additional future PhD projects, via collaboration, etc.); (iii) there is a strong training component and skills training to the PGRs in public engagement and media management (by UWE's Science Communication Unit seminars and training events) will be provided. PhD students will benefit from interaction with existing BRL members, members of UWE's Microbiology Research Lab as well as academics and researchers from the University of Bristol as a result of the BRL partnership. The existing collaboration between BRL and the Chemistry Department at the University of Bath will also be seen as a potential route for further exploitation/collaboration. The main developments of hypotheses in the proposed research would be of interest to various commercial enterprises, which may include industrial partners for mass producing small fuel cells in modular arrays for water treatment and/or energy production from organic substrates. Where discovery can be translated into new systems, BRL-UWE will exploit the opportunity via the Research Business and Innovation (RBI) Department, which will provide a platform for further dissemination of key results into the general public and reaching further potential beneficiaries in the private sector without additional costs to the project. UWE also has a press and marketing office for releasing and bringing to wider attention of key results and important publications. Potential beneficiaries (mainly industry, governmental research organisations) will be made aware in in-house meetings, seminars, and workshops. Further networks such as the Home Office, Carbon trust, GWR (Great Western Research), and (Supergen V) will provide highly effective routes of dissemination (e.g. via oral presentation at meetings) into a wider range of organisations. More importantly, a dedicated website will be established with updates on progress and with information about the project and its' background. This website will attract wider attention and it will be used to announce seminars and to disseminate results of high value to potential beneficiaries. The applicant as part of the existing BRL-UWE team has considerable experience with dissemination through the media (TV, press, radio and web-based articles; see Publications List). In addition, demonstration related material will be disseminated through the BRL YouTube account, in order to assist with maximising publicity and raising public awareness. This project is expected to achieve a high media profile. The cost of maintaining both live content web-sites has been included in the budget (see also Justification for Resources). In collaboration with the Science Communication Unit at UWE, with which the applicant has collaborated on EPSRC's Stage Award Walking with Robots , several demonstrations will be set-up in order to raise and maximise public awareness about the environmental benefits arising from renewable energy and demonstrating the concept of 'waste made useful' (see separate C-DIP). Exploitation will be in the first instance non-commercial through the open literature, in particular through publication in high impact journals.