Improvement of the performance of bio-fuel cells using microorganisms such as yeast

聚合物电解质燃料电池作为一种效率高、环境污染小的能量转换系统受到了广泛的关注。本研究项目尝试使用生物乙醇作为PEFC的燃料。生物乙醇是一种含乙醇的液体，通过酵母发酵糖类得到。此外，还试图提高生物燃料电池的性能，生物燃料电池通过酵母等微生物的代谢过程发电，对人体无害。采用原始热流体分析程序（GTT）对平板型直接乙醇PEFC （DEFC）阳极流道内的液体流动进行了数值分析，并采用颗粒图像测速法（PIV）对其流速分布进行了测量。在此基础上进行了染料可视化实验和液相色谱分析。结果表明，使催化反应恶化的副产物在…More一个滞止点处积累。设计了一种具有良好副产物排气能力和低压力损失的DEFC流道形状。为了通过抑制流动停滞来降低压力损失，采用遗传算法优化了180°急弯的形状。结果发现了压力损失降低33%的形状。此外，最初开发的圆柱形PEFC“功率管”中的无功电阻由交流阻抗计测量。研究发现，以乙醇为燃料时的反应阻力远大于以氢气为燃料时的反应阻力。以酵母和蔗糖水溶液为原料，改进了生物燃料电池的性能。因此，一个电池有六个集流器（每个面积为20平方厘米），每个阳极和阴极在最大输出功率下达到约10兆瓦。在实际应用中，开发了一种具有生物反应器的生物燃料电池，其中阳极中含有酵母的溶液被固定化。在该生物反应器中，作为燃料的蔗糖水溶液在没有泵的情况下通过二氧化碳气体的压力自主循环，尽管生成性能略有下降。利用GTT软件对固定化微生物的增殖过程进行了三维分析，结果表明，固定化微生物的增殖过程是可以预测的。少

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are noticed as an energy conversion system with high efficiency and little environmental contamination. In this research project, it was attempted to use bio-ethanol as fuel for PEFC. Bio-ethanol is a liquid including ethanol obtained by fermentation of saccharide using yeast. In addition, it was attempted to improve the performance of bio-fuel cells, which generate electricity through the metabolizing process of microorganisms such as yeast which is harmless for the human body.The liquid flow in the anode flow passage of a flat-type direct ethanol PEFC (DEFC) was numerically analyzed by an original thermo-fluid analysis code (GTT code) and also the flow velocity distribution was measured by particle image velocimetry (PIV). Furthermore, the visualization experiment with dye and the liquid constituent analysis by liquid chromatography were carried out. It was confirmed that bi-products which deteriorated the catalytic reaction were accumulated at … More a stagnation point.A suitable shape of a DEFC flow channel with excellent exhaust ability of by-products and low pressure loss was devised. For reducing the pressure loss by suppressing flow stagnation in the channel, the shape of 180 deg, sharp bend was optimized by numerical flow analysis with a genetic algorithm (GA). As a result, a shape with 33% less pressure loss has been found. Furthermore, the reactive resistance in the originally developed cylindrical PEFC "Power Tube"was measured by an AC impedance meter. It has been found that the reaction resistance when ethanol is used as fuel is much higher than that when hydrogen is used.The performance of a bio-fuel cell using yeast and sucrose aqueous solution was improved. As a result, one cell having six current collectors (each area is 20 cm2) for each of the anode and cathode has achieved approximately 10 mW at the maximum output power. For practical use, a bio-fuel cell having a bioreactor, in which the solution including yeast in the anode was immobilized, was developed. In this bioreactor, the aqueous solution of sucrose used as fuel was circulated autonomously by the pressure of carbon dioxide gas without a pump, although the generation performance decreased slightly. Furthermore, the proliferative process of immobilized microorganisms was three-dimensionally analyzed by the GTT code, and it has been shown that the proliferative process can be predicted. Less