Effects of substrate concentration and hydraulic retention time on hydrogen production from common reed by enriched mixed culture in continuous anaerobic bioreactor

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of substrate concentration and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on hydrogen production in a continuous anaerobic bioreactor from unhydrolyzed common reed (Phragmites australis) an invasive wetland and perennial grass. The bioreactor has capacity of 1 L and working volume of 600 mL. It was operated at pH 5.5, temperature at 37 °C, hydraulic retention time (HRT) 12 h, and variation of substrate concentration from 40, 50, and 60 g COD/L, respectively. Afterward, the HRT was then varied from 12, 8, to 4 h for checking the optimal biohydrogen production. Each condition was run until reach steady state on hydrogen production rate (HPR) which based on hydrogen percentage and daily volume. The results were obtained the peak of substrate concentration was at the 50 g COD/L with HRT 12 h, average HPR and H2 concentration were 28.71 mL/L/h and 36.29%, respectively. The hydrogen yield was achieved at 106.23 mL H2/g CODre. The substrate concentration was controlled at 50 g COD/L for the optimal HRT experiments. It was found that the maximum of average HPR and H2 concentration were 43.28 mL/L/h and 36.96%, respectively peak at HRT 8 h with the corresponding hydrogen yield of 144.35 mL H2/g CODre. Finally, this study successful produce hydrogen from unhydrolyzed common reed by enriched mixed culture in continuous anaerobic bioreactor.