(GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER) Algal Fuel Cells

(JANUARY-2024)

Algal Fuel Cells

• IIT Jodhpur’s innovative technology uses algae assisted fuel cells to capture carbon dioxide, treat wastewater and generate power.

What are these algae assisted fuel cells?

• Algal Fuel Cells (AFC) are bioelectric devices that use photosynthetic organisms to turn light and biochemical energy into electrical energy.
• The process uses wastewater, where the chosen algal strain —Chlorella vulgaris— is thermo-tolerant and can grow in wastewater.
• Algae assisted microbial fuel cells (MFC) is a bioelectro chemical device that generates electricity by harnessing the metabolic activity of microorganisms.

• When microorganisms break down organic matter (which wastewater is rich in) into simpler molecules, electrons are released in the process.
• If these electrons are made to flow through an external circuit, we get electric current.
• Only a small fraction of algae is used for power generation.
• The remaining is available for bioenergy.

The process

• First step is to cool the flue gas (the gas produced from the flue or chimneys of thermal power stations and other industrial plants) in a heat exchanger and then direct it to a sieve-plate absorption column.
• The sodium carbonate supplemented wastewater absorbs the CO2, generating flue-gas-derived bicarbonates (FGDBs).
• The FGDBs are added in plastic bag photobioreacors (PBRs), coupled with algae-assisted microbial fuel cells (MFC).

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Courtesy: Science Reporter