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
Cracknell JA
(2009)
A kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of O2 tolerance in [NiFe]-hydrogenases.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Wu X
(2009)
A one-compartment fructose/air biological fuel cell based on direct electron transfer.
in Biosensors & bioelectronics
Wu X
(2011)
A role for microbial palladium nanoparticles in extracellular electron transfer.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Kim JR
(2011)
Application of Co-naphthalocyanine (CoNPc) as alternative cathode catalyst and support structure for microbial fuel cells.
in Bioresource technology
Ibrahim S
(2010)
Artificial hydrogenases: assembly of an H-cluster analogue within a functionalised poly(pyrrole) matrix.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Premier G
(2011)
Automatic control of load increases power and efficiency in a microbial fuel cell
in Journal of Power Sources
Wait A
(2010)
Characteristics of Enzyme-Based Hydrogen Fuel Cells Using an Oxygen-Tolerant Hydrogenase as the Anodic Catalyst
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Ofiteru ID
(2010)
Combined niche and neutral effects in a microbial wastewater treatment community.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Boghani H
(2014)
Controlling for peak power extraction from microbial fuel cells can increase stack voltage and avoid cell reversal
in Journal of Power Sources
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
Wu X
(2009)
Direct electron transfer of glucose oxidase immobilized in an ionic liquid reconstituted cellulose-carbon nanotube matrix.
in Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Beecroft NJ
(2012)
Dynamic changes in the microbial community composition in microbial fuel cells fed with sucrose.
in Applied microbiology and biotechnology
Armstrong FA
(2009)
Dynamic electrochemical investigations of hydrogen oxidation and production by enzymes and implications for future technology.
in Chemical Society reviews
Blanford CF
(2008)
Efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction by the 'blue' copper oxidase, laccase, directly attached to chemically modified carbons.
in Faraday discussions
Vincent KA
(2007)
Enzymatic catalysis on conducting graphite particles.
in Nature chemical biology
Zhao F
(2009)
Factors affecting the performance of microbial fuel cells for sulfur pollutants removal.
in Biosensors & bioelectronics
Lukey MJ
(2010)
How Escherichia coli is equipped to oxidize hydrogen under different redox conditions.
in The Journal of biological chemistry
Goldet G
(2008)
Hydrogen Production under Aerobic Conditions by Membrane-Bound Hydrogenases from Ralstonia Species
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Kim J
(2011)
Increasing power recovery and organic removal efficiency using extended longitudinal tubular microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactors
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Dos Santos L
(2010)
Mechanistic studies of the 'blue' Cu enzyme, bilirubin oxidase, as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Kim JR
(2010)
Modular tubular microbial fuel cells for energy recovery during sucrose wastewater treatment at low organic loading rate.
in Bioresource technology
Michie IS
(2011)
Operational temperature regulates anodic biofilm growth and the development of electrogenic activity.
in Applied microbiology and biotechnology
Amini N
(2011)
Processing of strong and highly conductive carbon foams as electrode
in Carbon
Kim JR
(2011)
Spatiotemporal development of the bacterial community in a tubular longitudinal microbial fuel cell.
in Applied microbiology and biotechnology
Oh ST
(2010)
Sustainable wastewater treatment: how might microbial fuel cells contribute.
in Biotechnology advances
Zhao F
(2009)
Techniques for the study and development of microbial fuel cells: an electrochemical perspective.
in Chemical Society reviews
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
Michie I
(2011)
The influence of psychrophilic and mesophilic start-up temperature on microbial fuel cell system performance
in Energy & Environmental Science
Reisner E
(2009)
Visible light-driven H(2) production by hydrogenases attached to dye-sensitized TiO(2) nanoparticles.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Lazarus O
(2009)
Water-gas shift reaction catalyzed by redox enzymes on conducting graphite platelets.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
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 |