Development and characterization of clay based ceramic membrane with high proton conductivity and low cost for application in microbial fuel cell

Ceramic membranes based on natural clay were fabricated as proton exchange membrane (PEM) for microbial fuel cell (MFC). Wheat flour, alumina (Al2O3) and silica (SiO2) were employed as additive to improve porosity and proton conductivity. The proton mass transfer coefficient increased by the addition of 10% wt Al2O3 and 10% wt SiO2 due to their providing proton exchange sites. Wheat flour as pore-forming agent regulated the microstructure and increased the porosity of ceramic membranes. The membrane CMSA10 modified with 10% wt Al2O3,10 % wt SiO2 and 10% wt wheat flour has shown better proton conductivity ((9.86+0.26) x 10-5 cm center dot s-1) and higher ion exchange capacity (0.236+0.015 mmol H + center dot g-1 ) than other components of ceramics. The MFC with CMSA10 as the separator yielded the highest average COD removal efficiency of 94.9 + 0.3 %. The power density of the MFC with CMSA10 achieved to 182.8 mW center dot m-2. It has been proved that the clay-based ceramic membrane with high COD removal efficiency and good proton conductivity was capable as a PEM for MFCs.