Microbial Energy

Authors: Ermi van Oers and René de Landmeter ‘Why should we still use polluting energy sources, if there is a renewable source that also cleans up pollution?’ Our research started from a particular fascination: ‘Biodesign, A Cross-Pollination of Nature, Science and Creativity’, which was the title of an exhibition at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. Our goal was to amaze people by showing them the possibilities of waste processing. Our research was an investigation into the integration of natural processes within a design process. We believe that by applying natural processes and the efficiency of ecosystems, waste processing will not cost money but can instead create value. Bacteria can produce electricity During our research we discovered that bacteria can produce electricity. This energy is generated when bacteria break down the organic matter contained in waste water. The microorganisms even clean the water during this process.

A microbial fuel cell has an anode and a cathode side, just like a regular battery. Bacteria contained in waste water break down organic matter at the anode side, producing electrons and protons. The electrons go through the circuit and generate voltage, while the protons go through the membrane. At the cathode side, electrons, protons and oxygen together form clean water.

‘Living Light’ Future plans for unused space in the port of Rotterdam include building floating houses. Waste water from these houses combined with water from the harbour could provide electricity for the houses. This way the house becomes a kind of living organism which harvests energy and at the same time cleans the water. This technique is still in development, but is already very promising because it cleans our waste while also producing energy rather than using it. To demonstrate this technique and concept, we designed a lamp that harvests energy from water from the harbour. We call it ‘Living Light’. It harvests its energy using living microorganisms in the dirty water. Ermi van Oers and René de Landmeter are graduate students of Product Design / Minor Sustainability.

“Why would we still use polluting energy sources, if there is a renewable one, which cleans pollution?”

Our research started with a fascination: Biodesign, A Cross-Pollination of Nature, Science and Creativity. A search to the integration of natural processes in a design process.

Our goal was to amaze people by showing the possibilities of our waste. We believe by using natural processes and efficiency of ecosystems, waste doesn’t cost money but will gain money.

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During our research we found out that bacteria can produce electricity. This energy is generated when bacteria break down organic matter contained in wastewater. On top of this, microorganisms even clean the water during this process.

A microbial fuel cell has just like a regular battery an anode and a cathode side. Bacteria contained in wastewater break down organic matter at the anode side which produces electrons and protons. The electrons go through the circuit and creates voltage, whilst protons go through the membrane. At the cathode side, electrons, protons and oxygen together form clean water.

Future plans for the unused space in the port of Rotterdam are to build floating houses. Wastewater from these houses combined with the port water could provide electricity for the households. In this way the house becomes some sort of living organism which harvests energy and at the same time cleans the water.

This technique is still in development, but is already very promising because it cleans our waste and also produces energy instead of using it.

To show this technique we made a lamp which represents this concept and harvests its energy from the port water. We call it ‘Living Light’, it uses living microorganism in the dirty water to harvest its energy.