Chapter 13 - Biohythane Production From Food Wastes

Abstract

Biohythane is the gaseous product from the organic matter degradation in two-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) process. It is composed of a mixture of hydrogen and methane, where the hydrogen concentration can be in the range from 10% to 30% v/v. This chapter illustrates the advantages of biohythane use compared to the use of hydrogen and methane, as separate biofuels. The two-stage AD process and the relative operative parameters have been discussed. The attention has been focused on the biohythane production from food wastes, the most abundant organic substrates treated by AD, reporting the main milestones and the future trends. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the possibility to codigest food wastes and sewage sludge is very performing from both the process and economic points of view. Because of its capability of improving the methane engines combustion and to reduce the contaminants release in the atmosphere, the developments of biohythane application on automotive sector have been deeply discussed.