Episode 52 | Benthic Batteries | Naval Research Laboratory
After reaching out to my guest for Episode 50, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) offered three more guests for the show. All of them have exciting new technologies, both above the sea and below!
Dr. Lenny Tender, an NRL research chemist, and his team have developed a "Benthic Microbial Fuel Cell" (BMFC) capable of harnessing the ocean's natural chemistry to produce energy in some of the most remote places on earth.
Essentially the fuel cell, much like a battery, is made of up an anode and a cathode. The Anodes are placed into the mud on the sea floor, which is oxygen-free and full of microbes. They form a biofilm on the anodes and transfer electrons to the Cathodes, which are facing the water and very full of oxygen. The process creates electricity, up to about a watt per square meter.
It's not much power compared to other technologies, but it’s certainly enough for applications like sensors at the bottom of the ocean. You drop hundreds of these fuel cells into the ocean to power hundreds of sensors, and you are one step closer to us understanding one of the great frontiers.
Dr. Tender says their greater advantage is their durability. Unlike batteries, they’re always recharging on seawater and organic matter. And since their design is essentially solid state, they are impervious to the pressures of the ocean, so far as deep as 1,000 meters.
Closer to shore, my guest says these fuel cells are good to go in freshwater, with particular promise at wastewater treatment plants. In 2012, Dr. Tender received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand his research for wastewater plants.
Perhaps one day these plants will produce power as well.
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