MACHINES
Green waste composter with energy cogeneration – energy storage and utilization
- 1 University of Mining and Geology, Bulgaria
Abstract
Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have significant potential for sustainable energy production and waste management, but despite this, they are still not widely commercialized due to several main reasons, such as relatively low power generation, technical challenges, scalability, and others. In the present study, we tested the possibilities for storage and utilization of energy from our developed green waste composter with cogeneration of energy. The composter consists of 24 stacked solid phase microbial fuel cells. The generated energy was increased through a voltage boost converter and used for charging batteries, power banks, and low-energy consumption devices. The composter demonstrated stable operation, and the obtained results regarding the storage and utilization of the energy generated by it are promising for its commercialization.
Keywords
References
- A. T. Hoang, S. Nizetic, K. H. Ng, A. M. Papadopoulos, A. T. Le, S. Kumar, H. Hadiyanto, V. V. Pham, Microbial fuel cells for bioelectricity production from waste as sustainable prospect of future energy sector, Chemosphere 287 (2022) 132285
- N. Islam, B. Gogoi, R. Saikia, B. Yousaf, M. Narayan, H. Sarma, Encouraging circular economy and sustainable environmental practices by addressing waste management and biomass energy production, Regional Sustainability (2024) 5(4) 100174
- S. Wang, A. Adekunle, B. Tartakovsky, V. Raghavan, Synthesizing developments in the usage of solid organic matter in microbial fuel cells: A review, Chemical Engineering Journal Advances 8 (2021) 100140
- T. Ewing, P. T. Ha, J. T. Babauta, N. T. Tang, D. Heo, H. Beyenal, Scale-up of sediment microbial fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources, 272 (2014) 311e319
- M. A. Budihardjo, Syafrudin, A. J. Effendi, S. Hidayat, C. Purnawan, A. I. D. Lantasi, F. I. Muhammad, B. S. Ramadan, Waste valorization using solid-phase microbial fuel cells (SMFCs): Recent trends and status, Journal of Environmental Management 277 (2021) 111417
- H. Wang, Y. Ye, J. Zhang, H. Ning, Y. Xiang, X. Song, W. Zhao, F. Guo, Power performance improvement in sediment microbial fuel cells: Recent advances and future challenges, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 48 (2023) 24426-24446
- R. Alipanahi, M. Rahimnejad, G. Najafpour, Improvement of sediment microbial fuel cell performances by design and application of power management systems, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44 (2019) 16965-16975
- Y. Hubenova, I. Bardarov, E. Hubenova, E. Slavcheva, Sediment microbial fuel cells capable of powering outdoor environmental monitoring sensors, Sensing and Bio- Sensing Research 46 (2024) 100695
- J. Dziegielowsky, B. Metcalfe, M. Di Lorenzo, Towards effective energy harvesting from stacks of soil microbial fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources 515 (2021) 230591
- J. Prasad, R. K. Triphati, Effect of sediment microbial fuel cell stacks on 9 V/ 12 V DC power supply, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46 (2021) 14628-14638
- J. Prasad, R. K. Tripathi, Review on improving microbial fuel cell power management systems for consumer applications, Energy Reports 8 (2022) 10418–10433
- J. Prasad, R. K. Tripathi, Voltage control of sediment microbial fuel cell to power the AC load, Journal of Power Sources, 450 (2020) 227721
- A. Mukherjee, V. Patel, M. T. Shah, D. A. Jadhav, N. S. Munshi, A. D. Chendake, D. Pant, Effective power management system in stacked microbial fuel cells for onsite applications, Journal of Power Sources 517 (2022) 230684
- C. Donovan, A. Dewan, H. Peng, D. Heo, H. Beyenal, Power management system for a 2.5W remote sensor powered by a sediment microbial fuel cell, Journal of Power Sources, 196 (2011) 1171–1177
- S. Li, Z. Zhao, B. Li, T. Wei, H. Jiang, Z. Yan, Supercapacitors accumulating energy harvesting from stacked sediment microbial fuel cells and boosting input power for power management systems, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 47 (2022) 10689-10700
- J. Prasad, R. K. Tripathi, Scale-up and control the voltage of sediment microbial fuel cell for charging a cell phone, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 172 (2021) 112767
- Rosen Ivanov, Design and study of the operation of a green waste composter with energy cogeneration, International Scientific Journal “Industry 4.0”, Vol. 10 (2025), Issue 4, 132-135