Abstract
This study assessed the effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT; 8h-0.25h) on simultaneous hydrogen and methane production from cheese whey (5000mgcarbohydrates/L) in a mesophilic (30°C) expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. Methane production was observed at HRTs from 4 to 0.25h. The maximum methane yield (9.8 ± 1.9mLCH4/gCODap, reported as milliliterCH4 per gram of COD applied) and methane production rate (461 ± 75mLCH4/dayLreactor) occurred at HRTs of 4h and 2h, respectively. Hydrogen production increased as methane production decreased with decreasing HRT from 8 to 0.25h. The maximum hydrogen yield of 3.2 ± 0.3mLH2/gCODap (reported as mLH2 per gram of COD applied) and hydrogen production rate of 1951 ± 171mLH2/dayLreactor were observed at the HRT of 0.25h. The decrease in HRT from 8 to 0.25h caused larger changes in the bacterial populations than the archaea populations. With the decrease in HRT (6h-0.25h), the Shannon diversity index decreased (3.02-2.87) for bacteria and increased (1.49-1.83) for archaea. The bacterial dominance increased (0.059-0.066) as the archaea dominance decreased (0.292-0.201) with the HRT decrease from 6 to 0.25h.
Published Version
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