SBIR Phase II: Next-Generation Microbial Fuel Cell for Highly Efficient Wastewater Treatment

这个小企业创新研究第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力，如果成功的话，将推动一种新型微生物燃料电池（MFC）系统的开发，该系统从正在处理的废水中产生能量。MFC技术可以彻底改变中小型啤酒厂，水果加工厂和其他食品和饮料加工厂的废水处理。每天有超过400亿加仑的废水产生于啤酒厂、果汁加工厂、乳品厂和其他装瓶厂。该公司的微生物燃料电池技术预计将为这些公司提供显著的经济/技术优势，降低其处置成本，减少处理设施的占地面积，并帮助他们采用更可持续的废水处理工艺。 MFC技术在低成本、高效率处理城市污水方面也具有潜力。该第二阶段研究项目的目标是构建和验证一种创新的MFC技术在一个规模扩大的模拟商业规模系统中的性能，并验证利用该系统有效清洁啤酒厂和水果加工废水的技术和经济效益。中小型啤酒厂、水果加工厂和其他食品和饮料加工厂正在寻找一种经济有效的水处理方案。 一种有前途的方法是微生物燃料电池技术;然而，重大的技术/经济挑战阻碍了该技术的商业化。在第二阶段，MFC技术将扩大规模，并在接近商业规模的测试，以证明同样的高性能指标。具有成本效益的阴极和分离器组件以及高效的反应器设计有望最终使MFC在废水处理应用中实用化。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project, if successful, will be to advance the development of a novel microbial fuel cell (MFC) system that generates energy from the wastewater being treated. MFC technology could revolutionize wastewater treatment for small and mid-sized breweries, fruit processors and other food and beverage processing plants. Over 40 billion gallons of wastewater are produced every day by sources such as breweries, juice processors, dairies, and other bottling plants. The company's microbial fuel cell technology is expected to offer significant economic/technical advantages for these companies by reducing their disposal costs, reducing the footprint of treatment facilities, and helping them to adopt a more sustainable process for wastewater treatment. MFC technology also has potential in the low-cost, highly-efficient treatment of municipal wastewater. The objectives of this Phase II research project are to construct and validate the performance of an innovative MFC technology in a scaled-up, simulated commercial-scale system and to validate the technical and economic benefits of utilizing this system to effectively clean brewery and fruit-processing wastewater at volumes representative of commercial operations. Small to mid-size breweries, fruit processers and other food and beverage processing plants are searching for an affordable and effective water-treatment option. A promising approach is microbial fuel cell technology; however, significant technical/economic challenges have prevented commercialization of this technology. During Phase II, the MFC technology will be scaled up and tested at near-commercial scale to demonstrate the same high performance metrics. The cost-effective cathode and separator components and highly efficient reactor design are expected to finally make MFCs practical for wastewater treatment applications.