WARNV6Mean CE × OLR = 97.9 exceeds empirical Logan-group envelope (≤25). Mass transport limits CE at high loading; prediction may be optimistic.· Cheng & Logan 2011 — empirical envelope
Reproducing
Wu Y, Zhao X, Jin M, Li Y, Li S, Kong F, Nan J, Wang A (2017) — Bioresource Technology
Cr(VI) reduction and electricity generation in a single-chamber microbial fuel cell
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.115
Metric
Reported
Predicted
Δ
Band
Power density
peak power density at 50 mg/L Cr(VI) catholyte feed, mixed-community anode on acetate substrate, single-chamber MFC architecture. Energy-harvest mode (NOT sensor regime).
Fig. 4, polarization curve peak
250
mW/m²
238
mW/m²
-4.9%
green
Current density
peak current density at MPP under Cr(VI) catholyte, ~50 mg/L Cr(VI) initial concentration
Fig. 4
1.20
A/m²
0.95
A/m²
-21.2%
green
Coulombic efficiency
coulombic efficiency in the Cr(VI) energy-harvest mode — moderate (no O₂ crossover; acidic Cr(VI) catholyte; mixed-community anode)
Table 1
50.0
%
48.6
%
-2.8%
green
Δ-bands per Logan & Regan 2006 lab-to-lab reproducibility envelope: green ≤±25%, amber ±25–50%, red >±50%. Predictions from Butler-Volmer + Ohmic + Tafel closure calibrated against the Logan corpus (regression-tested in butler-volmer-calibration.test.ts).
What we don't know about this paper (4 items)
Wave 3 promotion (2026-05-22): previously held out as `_holdout/` because the prior MBES closure routed everything through the MM-clamped sensor model, which capped current at ~0.5 A/m² and gave +168% delta vs Wu's reported 1.2 A/m². Now the energy-harvest regime dispatches through buildMBESEnergyHarvestSweep (ferricyanide-style high-OCV closure).
Cr(VI) is environmentally toxic; this device is research-only for proof-of-concept. Real Cr(VI) wastewater treatment uses dedicated electroreduction stacks.
The 250 mW/m² peak is at 50 mg/L Cr(VI); power scales with Cr(VI) loading until cathode passivation kicks in (~150 mg/L for stainless cathodes per Wu et al. supplementary). We encode a single operating point rather than the full Cr(VI)-vs-power curve.
Mixed-community anode + acetate substrate gives ~50% CE — between the wastewater-inoculum floor (~15%) and ferricyanide-cathode pure-culture ceiling (~75%). Energy-harvest mode with sealed acidic catholyte avoids the air-cathode O₂ crossover penalty.