I have fabricated 3 single chambered microbial fuel cell.The substrate used inside the MFCs is kitchen wastewater from university hostel.Out of the 3 MFCs, two shows negative potential when connected to a digital multimeter.And only one MFC showed positive readings.All MFCs are fabricated in a similar way and inoculated the same media but the results are different.What may be the reason? What are the factors affecting the polarity of the cell.Now it is the 6th day after inoculating the MFCs.Please suggest me necessary steps to change the polarity...
are these in series or separate? what are the outputs of the individual cells?
These cells are arranged in series connection, the outputs shows negative potential for the 2 mfcs and one shows positive potential
check the intermediates, they may interfer and effect the polarity
oxygen in anode would decrease the power generation. If algae presented in anode under light would generate oxygen and decreased the power. As you would use kitchen waste, would it possible variation of microbes amongst the MFCs? or contamination of algae overpopulate the other microbes?
When multiple cells are stacked together, charge reversal can result in the reverse polarity of one or more cells and a loss of power generation. Measure the anode and cathode potential of each cell using reference electrode. fuel starvation, resulting in a loss of bacterial activity can be one of the reasons for reverse polarity. Positive voltage generation can be restored through rapid feeding of the cell. Try to decrease the HRT of the cell. The affected cells may be short-circuited to maintain stack power production.
I agree with Manaswini Behera. If I were you, I would make sure that the individual MFCs are producing similar power and they are fed with similar concentration of substrate and then connect them in series.
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