EnSE Seminar Series
Sunday, April 14, 2019, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Auditorium between Bldg. 4&5, Level 0, Room 0215
Dr. Bruce E. Logan
Evan Pugh University Professor in Engineering,
Stan & Flora Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering,
Director of the Engineering Energy & Environmental Institute at Penn State University
Scaling up microbial fuel cells to continuously treat wastewaters, and selective ammonium removal using battery electrode deionization
Abstract:
Substantial progress has been made in treating wastewater using anaerobic technologies such as microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that can also produce electricity. Two different designs have emerged based on tubular cells or plate-and-frame (flat) geometries. For both cases, the choice of the electrode size and spacing can impact cathode packing densities and thus possible volumetric performance. The cathode has been the main focus of MFC research in recent years, with modifications of activated carbon cathodes that have resulted in power densities of 2.5 to 4.7 W/m2 in laboratory scale MFCs using acetate, and up to 0.8 W/m2 with typical low-strength domestic wastewater. How much higher could these power densities go? What are the limits?
A new analysis will be presented that examines limits in power production from the perspective of minimizing electrodes spacing and quantifying electrode performance based on an area-resistance analysis. A second challenge in wastewater treatment in nitrogen removal. A new method of ammonium ion removal based on battery-type electrodes will be presented for removing nitrogen compounds from wastewaters.
Bio:
Dr. Bruce E. Logan is an Evan Pugh University Professor in Engineering, the Stan & Flora Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, and Director of the Engineering Energy & Environmental Institute at Penn State University. Dr. Logan is also the Editor of ES&T Letters, and a former Associate Editor of ES&T, both published by the American Chemical Society (ACS). His current research efforts are in renewable production and the development of an energy sustainable water infrastructure. Dr. Logan has mentored over 130 graduate students and postdocs and hosted over 40 international visitors to his laboratory. He is the author or co-author of several books and over 500 refereed publications (h-index=133; Google scholar). He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the International Water Association (IWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors (AEESP). Dr. Logan is a visiting professor at several universities including HIT, Tsinghua University, Dalian University of Technology (China), with ties to several other universities in Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Belgium. He received his Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State in 1997, he was on the faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
