• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.5728-5735
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• 2015

This study attempts to verify the applicability of ceramic membrane as a separator by comparing the power generation characteristics in single-chamber MFCs using ceramic membranes to those in the MFCs using nafion membrane. The generated power in MFCs by using acetate as a substrate was more stable than that by using formate, propionate and butyrate, respectively. It was shown that the generated power by using formate substrate in MFCs was unstable and a little higher than that by using acetate, and the power generated by using propionate and butyrate were lower than that by using acetate. In order to find out the Pt catalyst effect, it was compared the power generated in MFCs using Pt-coated carbon cloth as electrode to that power using normal carbon cloth. The power generated in MFCs using Pt-coated carbon cloth as electrode was 1.2 times higher than that using normal carbon cloth. The Pt-coated carbon cloth was about 5 times more expensive than normal carbon cloth. It is suggested that both power generation efficiency and cost together should be considered in selecting electrodes of MFCs. It was found that the ceramic membrane was superior to nafion membrane by comparing to the power generation characteristics obtained. It was shown that average voltage values were $523.67mV{\pm}49.41mV$ by using synthetic wastewater, in MFCs of ceramic membrane as a separator. While average voltage values were $424.09mV{\pm}79.95mV$ by using synthetic wastewater, in MFCs of nafion membrane as a separator. The organic removal efficiency, 41.7% by using ceramic membrane was a little bit higher than 40.8% by using nafion membrane. This research implies ceramic membrane can be a valid alternative to nafion membrane as a separator when considering the power generation and the efficiency of organics removal.