Comparative Electricity Generation by Two Locally Produced Corncob Pyrochar Electrodes and Graphite using Microbial Fuel Cell Technology

The raw data presented here are the results obtained during the study on comparative electricity generation by two locally produced corncob pyrochar electrodes and graphite using microbial fuel cell technology. The potential application of the electrode materials produced from corncobs through pyrolysis and activation (in a seperate experiment) was tested along with graphite (for reference) in dual-chambered microbial fuel cells (MFC) using wastewater from Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) and Biogas Digestate (BD) as substrates. It was concluded that, MFC operated with KOH-activated corncob pyrochar electrode (KAC) which had the largest BET surface area (1626 m²/g) and porosity using biogas digestate performed best with a power output of 316.8 µW and Coulombic Efficiency of 75% compared to 64% and 48% of the steam-activated corncob pyrochar electrode (SAC) and graphite eelctrode respectively.