See What Work As a Water Technology Researcher Is Like!

In past journals, I explained that the goal of my research is to test whether a microbial electrolysis cell can produce hydrogen gas. In this album, I'll show you how I set up and run my experiments!

Location: 
Karlsruhe, Germany
Location Data: 
POINT (0 0)

Photos

This microbial electrolysis cell is a specific type known as a rotating disk bioelectrochemical reactor... bacteria grow on the anode disks inside the reactor, and the disks rotate to help mix the liquid that pumps in a loop within the reactor
Geobacter sulfurreducens are red in color, and the more bacteria there are, the easier they are to see as a collective with the naked eye... the bacteria in the bottle on the left grew for longer than the bottle on the right, so the bottle is more red!
The liquid being filtered is hydrolysate, which comes from the KoalAplan biorefinery in Stuttgart
Once filtered, the hydrolysate is a clear yellow liquid; it contains volatile fatty acids, which the bacteria in my reactor will eat
The reactor and the devices that are used to monitor the gas produced by the reactor and the conditions within the reactor
The electricity being produced by the bacteria growing on the disks within the MEC is measured by an electrode, and the data (displayed on the screens) is sent to a computer to be recorded
Gas produced by the bacteria and by electrolysis (electricity splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen) collects in the gas trap shown here and then passes through gas clock; this gas can also be sampled, and its composition can be analyzed
Gas produced by the reactor pushes through the gas clock; an accurate reading of the volume that passes through the clock is recorded by a computer

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