SBIR Phase I final Report

The approach that we propose here in this SBIR proposal is a modified water electrolysis cell. In conventional water electrolysis the H2O is split into electrons, protons, and oxygen gas at the anode electrode. The electrons travel through an external power source and the protons travel through an electrolyte membrane to the cathode where they recombine to form hydrogen gas. The power source requires a minimum of 1.23 V to overcome the potential difference of the electrodes for the splitting of water. In contrast in our approach proposed here, instead of splitting water we are using acetate in wastewater and bacteria to oxidize the acetate into electrons and protons at the anode surface. The microbes release the electrons to the anode and the resulting protons move to the cathode electrode through the proton exchange membrane as described above and recombine to form hydrogen gas. The advantage here is that the required potential is now on the order of 0.25 to 0.8 V, and a considerable savings in electricity is realized to produce the same amount of hydrogen while at the same time removing organic matter from wastewater streams. Significant improvements in current density needs to be made in order for this type of technology to be economically viabl