Preliminary Results from the Use of Pear Waste in Single-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cells

Abstract

Organic waste, mainly fruit waste, has become a global problem, even more so in developing countries, because they need current policies for its proper collection. This research used pear remains in microbial fuel cells or single-chamber bioreactors to observe the potential of this substrate, using zinc and copper electrodes. The maximum results obtained from voltage and electric current were 3.748 ± 0.261 mA and 0.101 V on the ninth day, operating at a pH of 4.62 ± 0.12 and with an electrical conductivity of 86.825 ± 4.726 mS/cm. While the Rint. of the cells found was 61,795 ± 8691 Ω, whose displayed power density was 300,932 ± 13,419 mW/cm2 for a current density of 6232 A/cm2. In the final stage, the MFCs were connected in series, managing to observe a value of 3.03 mA of electrical current and 2.59 V of the peak voltage. This research gives the first insights into using this fruit as fuel in microbial fuel cells so that the future can scale and become more commercial for applications that help entrepreneurs and citizens.