Biophotovoltaics - Bioelectricity from plants for renewable electricity generation in rural Moroccan regions

In order to meet global energy demands, the conservation of different renewable energy sources is inevitable, as an alternative to fossil fuels. One of the important green energy source to consider is biomass, including all biologically synthesized chemicals, primary by photosynthetic organisms using sunlight and carbon dioxide. The process involves microorganism, at the rhizosphere region of a plant that can degrade the organic material produced via photosynthesis and release electrons to produce electricity. This form of bioenergy harvesting is called Plant Microbial fuel cells (PMFCs) and sometimes also termed as biophotovoltaics. Through collaboration between Moroccan institutes and XLAB (Hasselt University), this project aims to explore this technology, investigate ways of improvement and design optimized harvesting and storage system to supply electricity to remote communities in Morocco, for low consumption daily-use electrical devices.