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

聚合物电解质燃料电池（PEFC）作为一种高效率、低环境污染的能量转换系统而备受关注。在本研究计画中，尝试以生物质乙醇作为燃料用于PEFC。生物乙醇是通过使用酵母发酵糖类获得的包含乙醇的液体。此外，还试图改善生物燃料电池的性能，利用原始的热流体分析程序，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用粒子图像测速仪（PIV）测量了流场的速度分布。并进行了染料显色实验和液相色谱分析。证实了在催化剂存在下，使催化反应劣化的副产物积累。 ...更多信息 设计了具有良好副产物排出能力和较低压力损失的DEFC流道形状。为了通过抑制通道内的流动停滞来降低压力损失，采用遗传算法对180 °急弯曲的形状进行了优化。结果，找到了压力损失减少33%的形状。此外，用交流阻抗计测量了最初开发的圆柱形PEFC“功率管“中的无功电阻。研究发现，以乙醇为燃料时的反应阻力比以氢气为燃料时的反应阻力大得多，以酵母和蔗糖水溶液为燃料的生物燃料电池的性能得到了改善。结果，对于阳极和阴极中的每一个具有六个集电器（每个面积为20 cm2）的一个电池在最大输出功率下实现了约10 mW。为了实际应用，开发了具有生物反应器的生物燃料电池，其中阳极中包含酵母的溶液被固定化。在该反应器中，用作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，尽管发电性能略有下降。此外，固定化微生物的增殖过程进行了三维分析的GTT代码，它已被证明是可以预测的增殖过程。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