WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development
Print ISSN: 1790-5079, E-ISSN: 2224-3496
Volume 22, 2026
Passive Control of a Microbial Electrolysis Cell for the Production of Hydrogen From Agricultural Wastewater
Authors: , , ,
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Abstract: This work presents a local Port-Hamiltonian-based control strategy for a microbial electrolysis cell
aimed at regulating the substrate concentration through the dilution rate. The proposed approach combines an
equilibrium-based formulation with a damping injection term inspired by the IDA-PBC methodology. A nonlinear
model including substrate, anodophilic biomass, methanogenic biomass, oxidized mediator concentration, and
current dynamics is considered. The controller performance is evaluated under changes in the operating point and
variations in the inlet substrate concentration. The simulation results show accurate substrate regulation, bounded
control effort, and a consistent internal response of the electrochemical and biological variables, supporting the
usefulness of the proposed formulation as a control-oriented framework for microbial electrolysis cells.
Keywords:
Microbial electrolysis cells, nonlinear control, passivity-based control, Port-Hamiltonian systems, substrate regulation, hydrogen production, bioelectrochemical systems
Pages: 1091-1104
DOI: 10.37394/232015.2026.22.95