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Scale-up of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) will require a better understanding of the effects of reactor architecture and operation mode on volumetric power densities. We compared the performance of a smaller MFC (SMFC, 28mL) with a larger MFC (LMFC, 520mL) in fed-batch mode. The SMFC produced 14Wm⁻³, consistent with previous reports for this reactor with an electrode spacing of 4cm. The LMFC produced 16Wm⁻³, resulting from the lower average electrode spacing (2.6cm) and the higher anode surface area per volume (150m²m⁻³ vs. 25m²m⁻³ for the SMFC). The effect of the larger anode surface area on power was shown to be relatively insignificant by adding graphite granules or using graphite fiber brushes in the LMFC anode chamber. Although the granules and graphite brushes increased the surface area by factors of 6 and 56, respectively, the maximum power density in the LMFC was only …