Green electricity production by epipremnum aureum and bacteria in plant microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Due to high energy demand worldwide, finding an alternative renewable and sustainable energy source is of great interest. Plant microbial fuel cell (P-MFC) is one of the most promising methods to generate green energy. In P-MFC, a plant is placed into the anode compartment. Mutual interaction between plant root rhizodeposits and bacterial community presentin biofilm format at the vicinity of the rhizosphere area in plant root could be utilized to generate electricity. Indeed, in P-MFC, bacteria metabolize rhizodeposits into electrons and protons. These electrons could be then converted into green electricity. In this work, Epipremnum aureum, was selected as the studied plant species. Measurement of electricity generation by this specific species was conducted for 20 days. The open circuit voltage (OCV) was measured at 195 mV and the maximum power density was 0.85 µW/cm2. Five isolated bacterial strains from the graphite felt surface found on the anode were screened by nine biochemical tests such as catalase, TSI (triple sugar iron agar), gelatin and etc.