Bio-catalytic Devices for Energy Production

Background: The development of fuel cells device, which used bioelements as catalyst, converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through an electrochemical reaction with oxygen oxidizing agent, and demonstrates the potential of electrochemical techniques for energy generation. The development of sustainable energy production prompted the researcher community to propose and investigate the use of biocatalysts. Aim: This article review presents the development of bio catalyst in biofuel cell devices. Two kinds of biotcatalyst are used to produce electricity: enzyme and microorganisms. Enzymatic biofuel cell and microbial fuel cell are presented after an historical review for each device. Effects of material electrode and design of the electrode are discussed to improve the electrical connection of biocatalyst (enzyme or microorganism) and thus to enhance the energy production. Conclusion: Application of biofuel cell in desalination process is shown and the results demonstrated the capacity of coupling between biofuel cell and electrodialysis process to remove salt from sea water. This work opens new perspectives to enhance the power production simultaneously with water treatment.