A review on power management systems: An electronic tool to enable Microbial Fuel Cells for powering range of electronic appliances

DAS P.; BARBORA L.; DUTTA A.; STOM D.; GOSWAMI P.; JACOB C.A.; CORTÓN E.

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2021 vol. 517 p. 1 - 15

0378-7753

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have received substantial research interest for their eco-friendly energy conversion ability. Along with the production of electrical energy, a synergistic benefit of MFCs could also be gained from their capability to reduce organic contaminant load in polluted water. The sub-categories of MFCs such as Sediment MFC (SMFC) and Plant MFC (PMFCs) have also great prospects for bioremediation and energy conversion processes. However, the efficiency of these renewable energy-producing systems needs significant improvement for their real world application through commercial paradigm. This review mainly focuses on the power-management systems (PMSs) that can be used in conjunction with the MFCs to improve its energy output for powering various range of electronic appliances. A PMS is a device that institute some electronic components to work together in order to convert a low electrical input into an utilizable power output. The basic configuration of PMS mainly consists of a charge pump, which enhances the output voltage of the MFC up to a desired level and charges a supercapacitor , and a boost converter that boosts the supercapacitor output to another voltage level. These basic power management systems can enhance the voltage of MFCs intermittently to power small scale appliances. Several design configurations of PMSs to enhance the MFCs power with better efficiency have been reported. In this review these design configurations and their efficiency in enhancing the power of MFCs has been discussed.