| | Category | BI | L05 | A Yeast Powered Fuel Cell with Methylene Blue as a Mediator |
| | Abstract | The purpose of this experiment was to determine if yeast could produce |
| | electricity in a Methylene Blue mediated fuel cell with NaCl in the cathode, |
| | and if the addition of Methylene Blue to the cathode in place of NaCl would |
| | enable the yeast to produce more electricity. |
| | A fuel cell was constructed out of PVC with a salt bridge connection |
| | between the anode and the cathode halves. A solution of yeast |
| | (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), sucrose, and methylene blue was used in |
| | the anode. Multiple experiments were performed using either a methylene |
| | blue or a NaCl solution in the cathode. Control experiments were also run |
| | without any yeast in the anode. |
| | When the fuel cell was in an open circuit configuration, voltage values |
| | indicated that yeast could indeed produce electricity in the presence of a |
| | methylene blue mediator. When methylene blue was also used in the |
| | cathode of the fuel cell, in place of NaCl, a higher voltage value was |
| | observed. In a closed circuit configuration, with a load of 2.64 kΩ, |
| | the yeast produced measurable voltage and current. However, the |
| | presence of methylene blue in the cathode caused a reduction in observed |
| | voltage. |
| | Bibliography | Bibliography |
| | BOOKS |
| | Giancoli, D. (1980). Physics: Principles with Applications. Englewood |
| | Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. |
| | |
| | Harper, G. (2008). Fuel Cell Project for the Evil Genius. New York: |
| | McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. |
| | |
| | JOURNALS |
| | Gunawardena, A., Fernando, S., and To, F. (2008). Peformance of a |
| | Yeast-mediated Biological Fuel Cell. International Journal of Molecular |
| | Sciences. 9, 1893-1907. |
| | |
| | Madden, D., and Schollar, J. (2001) The Microbial Fuel Cell: Electricity |
| | From Yeast Cells. Bioscience Explained 1(1), 1-4. |
| | http://www.bioscience-explained.org |
| | |
| | WEBSITES |
| | Abbie Groff’s Microbial Fuel Cell Research Page |
| | http://www.geocities.com/abigail_groff/ |
| | |
| | Harvesting Energy From Wastewater in a 2 Chamber Microbial Fuel Cell |
| | http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/bioenergy/pdf/MFC-Sikander.pdf |
| | |
| | |
| | Microbial Fuel Cells Q&A |
| | http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/bioenergy/MFC_QandA.pdf |
| | |
| | Proofing Yeast |
| | http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Proofing-Yeast/Detail.aspx |
| | |
| | Research-Bioenergy-Building a Two-chamber Fuel Cell |