Efficient production of hydrogen peroxide in microbial reverse-electrodialysis cells coupled with thermolytic solutions

Abstract

● Appreciable H₂O₂ production rate was achieved in MRCs utilizing NH₄HCO₃ solutions.

● Carbon black outperformed activated carbon as the catalyst for H₂O₂ production.

● The optimum carbon black loading for H₂O₂ production on air-cathode was 10 mg/cm².

● The optimum number of cell pairs was determined to be three.

● A maximum power density of 980 mW/m² was produced by MRCs with 5 cell pairs.

H₂O₂ was produced at an appreciable rate in microbial reverse-electrodialysis cells (MRCs) coupled with thermolytic solutions, which can simultaneously capture waste heat as electrical energy. To determine the optimal cathode and membrane stack configurations for H₂O₂ production, different catalysts, catalyst loadings and numbers of membrane cell pairs were tested. Carbon black (CB) outperformed activated carbon (AC) for H₂O₂ production, although AC showed higher catalytic activity for oxygen reduction. The optimum CB loading was 10 mg/cm² in terms of both the H₂O₂ production rate and power production. The optimum number of cell pairs was determined to be three based on a tradeoff between H₂O₂ production and capital costs. A H₂O₂ production rate as high as 0.99 ± 0.10 mmol/(L·h) was achieved with 10 mg/cm² CB loading and 3 cell pairs, where the H₂O₂ recovery efficiency was 52 ± 2% and the maximum power density was 780 ± 37 mW/m². Increasing the number of cell pairs to five resulted in an increase in maximum power density (980 ± 21 mW/m²) but showed limited effects on H₂O₂ production. These results indicated that MRCs can be an efficient method for sustainable H₂O₂ production.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Microbial reverse-electrodialysis cell / Hydrogen peroxide production / Ammonium bicarbonate / Electrolysis cell / Optimization

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