Microbial Fuel Cell Video

Lovely: Dr. Derek Lovely, professor of microbiology, University of Massachusetts at Amhurst
Chrisey: Dr. Linda Chrisey, program officer, Naval Biosciences and Biocentric Technology Program, Office of Naval Research
Tender: Dr. Leonard Tender, research chemist, Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory
Chadwick: Bart Chadwick, oceanographer, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (Pacific (SPAWAR)

Narrator: An Office of Naval Research team has developed a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy by the catalytic reaction of microorganisms, and it all begins with mud. It is known as the microbial fuel cell, or MFC, with electricity generated by a microbe called geobacter, discovered by Dr. Derek Lovely of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the mud of the Potomac River.

Lovely: This basic research has expanded into the applied realm. We've worked with a number of companies in the bioremediation field implementing our strategies to speed up the cleanup of groundwater. As the geobacter research has also started to have implications for bioenergy, this is absolutely a green power. It turns out to be a natural process, carried out by a naturally occurring organism found in soils and sediments. What we're talking about is recycling wastes that have a substantial energy content, but are very difficult to convert to energy that we can use with current methods.

Chrisey: If you've ever gone to the beach and you dig down in the mud and you get to a layer that's pretty stinky, it smells like rotten eggs, that's due to microbial activity.

Narrator: The mud's redox potential is lower than that of the water, and if you couple the two environments you create a circuit and can generate electricity. The bacteria eat carbon material, use that carbon to fuel their own metabolic activity and create electrons. Those electrons are then transferred onto mineral surfaces in the natural environment.

Chrisey: What we're looking at, though, is taking advantage of that "dumping" those excess electrons onto an electrode. And so, essentially, we're harvesting energy in the form of electricity from the natural metabolic activities of these bacteria.

Narrator: The fuel cell created using Geobacter will be useful to the navy in many ways. It has been used to power lights, chemical sensors, hydrophones, and autonomous underwater vehicles that will have the ability to settle on the sea floor and recharge their batteries.

Chrisey: We've also been able to show that with specific conditioning of the power generated by the microbial fuel cell, we can take measurements made by a sensor and actually transmit them, via satellite, to another location.

Narrator: ONR's partnerships with SPAWAR, the University of Massachusetts, the Naval Research Laboratory, and several other universities and labs, are key to the success of the microbial fuel cell project. Dr. Leonard Tender, research chemist, Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering at NRL, is excited about the potential for microbial fuel cells.

Tender: And we're trying to generate levels of electricity that are comparable to batteries, but unlike a battery our fuel cells will run forever because the fuel and oxidants are natural components in the right environment. The most fascinating aspect of the program is that, as we try to understand how these micro-organisms are functioning on our electrode surfaces, and what I mean by that is the mechanism by which they take the fuel, metabolize it, and then generate for us electrical current.

Narrator: While Geobacter research flourishes on the East Coast, Bart Chadwick of SPAWAR is using microbial fuel cells in a whole other way that benefits and endangered species, the pacific green sea turtle.

Chadwick: So the cool aspect of this is the application where we're testing the fuel cell is empowering a hydrophone that actually tracks the movement of turtles through San Diego Bay. So we're tracking the turtles because they're an important natural resource in the bay, and the Navy is one of the parties responsible for managing that resource.

Tender: We could, you know, conceivably, in the near future generate a substantial amount of power from biomass in a microbial fuel cell.

Chrisey: They're sustainable, they're environmentally friendly, they don't involve hazardous reactants like a regular battery might. Since they're using natural organic carbon in the environment, essentially they could go on for years without needing anykind of battery replacement or anything like that.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Microbial
• Fuel
• Cell
• Web

[esp123777]

I feel like I have just been to church

[moshimoshi152]

huh???