Bioconversion of waste office paper to hydrogen using pretreated rumen fluid inoculum.

Abstract

In this study, a microbial consortium from an acid-treated rumen fluid was used to improve the yields of H2 production from paper residues in batch reactors. The anaerobic batch reactors, which contained paper and cellulose, were operated under three conditions: (1) 0.5g paper/L, (2) 2g paper/L, and (3) 4g paper/L. Cellulase was added to promote the hydrolysis of paper to soluble sugars. The H2 yields were 5.51, 4.65, and 3.96mmol H2/g COD, respectively, with substrate degradation ranging from 56 to 65.4%. Butyric acid was the primary soluble metabolite in the three reactors, but pronounced solventogenesis was detected in the reactors incubated with increased paper concentrations (2.0 and 4.0g/L). A substantial prevalence of Clostridium acetobutylicum (99% similarity) was observed in the acid-treated rumen fluid, which has been recognized as an efficient H2-producing strain in addition to ethanol and n-butanol which were also detected in the reactors.