Chapter 355 - 172: Owen’s Bacteria

Chapter 355: Chapter 172: Owen’s Bacteria

If even one of the above conditions is not met, the degradation efficiency of the Owen Power Generation Bacteria will plummet.

Moreover, the bacterium has no resistance to the Bacillus genus commonly found in soil. In particular, the metabolic byproducts of Bacillus subtilis can directly prevent the Owen Power Generation Bacteria from reproducing, leading to a mass die-off.

It was precisely these harsh survival conditions that led Jiang Miao to select it from among billions of mutant bacteria.

Under optimal conditions, the Owen Power Generation Bacteria is projected to degrade 97% of the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in cattle and sheep manure (with a moisture content of roughly 80%) in just 143 hours. Its peak power output is 473 watts per cubic meter, allowing it to generate 67 kWh of electricity.

However, these optimal degradation conditions were not the optimal power generation conditions.

At 23 degrees Celsius, with a specific dose of soy genistein and in air with a 26.4% oxygen content, the Owen Power Generation Bacteria’s power output drops to 320 watts per cubic meter. However, its stable generation time extends to 360 hours, allowing for a total output of about 115 kWh.

The trade-off is that these conditions lead to the incomplete degradation of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose, leaving about 20-30% as residue.

Before Jiang Miao was a simple battery powered by a cow dung solution.

To ensure efficient electron transfer within the battery’s solution, he spent the next few days testing various anode and cathode materials, attempting to find a cheap yet effective option.

After a series of experiments, he discovered that the materials with the best transfer efficiency were a gold plate cathode and a stainless steel anode, achieving an electron transfer efficiency of around 98%.

However, using stainless steel as the anode for this microbial fuel cell presented a critical flaw. During operation, the stainless steel would gradually corrode. As runtime increased, the anode’s electron transfer efficiency would steadily decrease. It was estimated that the stainless steel plate would need replacement after only 500 to 600 hours of use.

Therefore, Jiang Miao opted for non-consumable graphite plates as the anode material, which had an electron transfer efficiency of 92%.

As for the gold plate, it wasn’t a consumable. While using gold as the battery’s cathode was extravagant, it wouldn’t be used up. At worst, over a long period, the layer of the plate in contact with the electrolyte would experience a minuscule migration of gold atoms. The amount was incredibly small; according to the data Jiang Miao observed on his Appraisal Panel, it would likely take several hundred years for even a tenth of the gold to migrate.

Due to the harsh optimal conditions for the Owen Power Generation Bacteria and the need for an expensive gold cathode, it certainly couldn’t be used as a portable power source.

However, there were no major issues with using it as a stationary power generation facility.

In a fixed environment, the five limiting conditions were all relatively easy to resolve.

Temperature could be regulated with equipment like central air conditioning.

Air oxygen content could be managed with oxygen sensors and an air separation unit to produce pure oxygen, which could then be injected in precise amounts into the battery chamber.

To prevent contact with Bacillus, the raw materials could simply be sterilized at high temperatures.

The required specific gram-negative bacteria could be cultivated on a large scale.

Soy genistein could be extracted from soybean meal. Since the required amount was small, it didn’t add much to the cost, though it was a consumable.

Furthermore, the gram-negative bacteria and soy genistein were also key raw materials in the system. Because these two components could influence the Owen Power Generation Bacteria’s degradation efficiency, they could in turn control the power output, making the microbial fuel cell’s energy production highly adjustable.

Jiang Miao estimated that the Monan Branch’s livestock farm currently produced about 300 tons of fresh cattle and sheep manure per day (with a moisture content of 60-85%). This could be sterilized and then inoculated with Owen Power Generation Bacteria, the special gram-negative bacteria, and a measured amount of soy genistein to create 300 cubic meters of microbial fuel cells.

Three hundred cubic meters of microbial fuel cells could produce approximately 31,700 kWh of electricity.

Once a continuous cycle was established, they could generate 31,700 kWh per day, or 11.41 million kWh per year.

Of course, to achieve this continuous cycle, they would need a total battery volume of at least 4,500 cubic meters. Factoring in the casings and other supporting facilities, the generation chamber itself would need an internal volume of at least 30,000 cubic meters. This translated to a plant with a footprint of 5,000 square meters and a height of about 6 meters.

Securing a little over an acre of industrial land wasn’t an issue.

But the truly thorny issue for Jiang Miao was the gold plates for the battery cathodes.

He had made several adjustments, but even after minimizing the amount required, each cubic meter of the battery still needed 0.4 kilograms of gold.

For 4,500 cubic meters, that meant 1,800 kilograms of gold.

Of course, platinum could be used instead of gold. Platinum was a bit cheaper, at around 227 million yuan per ton. With a bit of teeth-gritting, Hailufeng Company’s finances could handle it.

After careful consideration, Jiang Miao decided against using gold or platinum for the cathodes. Instead, he opted for high-purity manganese monoxide plates, which were less efficient and would drop the electron transfer efficiency to 86%.

By the time he completed these experiments, Jiang Miao had been in Monan for nearly a month.

He destroyed all his experimental records and the temporary power generation device, keeping only ten samples of the Owen Power Generation Bacteria strain.

He stored four of them in the chairman’s personal safe at the Tamin Chagan Base.

He entrusted the remaining six samples to the company’s logistics drivers, instructing them to transport them back to Shanmei via three separate routes. To be safe, he had rigged a simple device inside each storage container. Without the assistance of his Appraisal Panel, any attempt to force one open would cause the stored hydrochloric and nitric acids to mix, creating aqua regia and destroying the Owen Power Generation Bacteria strain inside.

The four containers stored at the Tamin Chagan Base were rigged with the same device.

Of course, even if someone managed to open a container safely by chance, the strain inside required special conditions to be activated. Otherwise, they would just end up with a small vial of useless bacterial powder.

The complete technical specifications for this microbial fuel cell system were now committed to Jiang Miao’s memory.

He knew, however, that technology involving microorganisms like this would likely have to be handled by Shuya, just like the bio-mining technology before it.

The technology still had room for further development.

For instance, the anode and cathode materials could be improved to increase electron transfer efficiency.

Alternatively, the bacteria’s power generation could be improved. Based on Jiang Miao’s current progress, the Owen Power Generation Bacteria released about 300 kWh of energy per cubic meter while decomposing organic matter, yet only 115 kWh of that was converted into electricity—an efficiency of roughly 38%.