Abstract
The reported patent-pending system comprises a novel biohydrogen reactor with a gravity settler for decoupling of SRT from HRT. The biohydrogenator was operated for 100 days at 37 °C, hydraulic retention time 8 h and solids retention time ranging from 2.2–2.5 days. The feed was a corn-syrup waste generated as a byproduct from an industrial facility for bioethanol production located in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The system was initially started up with a synthetic feed containing glucose at concentration of 8 g/L and other essential inorganics. Anaerobicaly-digested sludge from the St. Mary’s wastewater treatment plant (St. Mary, Ontario, Canada) was used as the seed, and was heat treated at 70 °C for 30 min to inhibit methanogens. After 10 days, when the hydrogen production was steady, the corn-syrup waste was introduced to the system. Glucose was the main constituent in the corn-syrup; its concentration was varied over a period of 90 days from 8 to 25 g/L. The change in glucose concentration was used to study the impact of variable organic loading on the stability of hydrogen production in the biohydrogenator. Hydrogen production rate increased from 10 L H2/L·d to 34 L H2/L·d with the increase of organic loading rate (OLR) from 26 to 81 gCOD/L·d, while a maximum hydrogen yield of 430 mL H2/gCOD was achieved in the system with an overall average of 385 mL H2/gCOD.
Highlights
Hydrogen does not contribute to the greenhouse effect and has a high energy yield of 142 kJ/g, 2.75 times more than that of any hydrocarbon [1]
At the end of phase 1 the organic loading was doubled to 52 gCOD/L·
The overall results of this experiment show that biological hydrogen production from corn-syrup using heat pre-treated anaerobicaly digested sludge can be achieved in the biohydrogenator
Summary
Hydrogen does not contribute to the greenhouse effect and has a high energy yield of 142 kJ/g, 2.75 times more than that of any hydrocarbon [1]. Among different biological processes for hydrogen production, dark fermentation is the most attractive one because of its potential of direct use of wastewater streams and organic wastes and its higher rate of hydrogen production in comparison with photo-fermentative processes. The conversion of organic waste into hydrogen is attractive both from pollution control and energy recovery points of view. The highest hydrogen yield of mL H2/gCOD was demonstrated by Ueno et al [4] for the treatment of sugar factory wastewater in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with 63% glucose conversion efficiency.
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