Hydrogen Dark Fermentation for Degradation of Solid and Liquid Food Waste

Vira Hovorukha,Monika Sporek,Antonina Kalinichenko,Oleksandr Tashyrev,Agnieszka Dołhańczuk-Śródka,Galina Gladka,Olesia Havryliuk

doi:10.3390/en14071831

Abstract

The constant increase in the amount of food waste accumulating in landfills and discharged into the water reservoirs causes environment pollution and threatens human health. Solid and liquid food wastes include fruit, vegetable, and meat residues, alcohol bard, and sewage from various food enterprises. These products contain high concentrations of biodegradable organic compounds and represent an inexpensive and renewable substrate for the hydrogen fermentation. The goal of the work was to study the efficiency of hydrogen obtaining and decomposition of solid and liquid food waste via fermentation by granular microbial preparation (GMP). The application of GMP improved the efficiency of the dark fermentation of food waste. Hydrogen yields reached 102 L/kg of solid waste and 2.3 L/L of liquid waste. The fermentation resulted in the 91-fold reduction in the weight of the solid waste, while the concentration of organics in the liquid waste decreased 3-fold. Our results demonstrated the potential of granular microbial preparations in the production of hydrogen via dark fermentation. Further development of this technology may help to clean up the environment and reduce the reliance on fossil fuels by generating green hydrogen via recycling of household and industrial organic wastes.

Highlights

The use of molecular hydrogen represents a promising alternative strategy for generating energy for industrial applications [1,2]
The control experimental setup simulated the spontaneous decay of solid food wastes (SFW) in landfills and involved fermentation without the addition of granular microbial preparation, regulation of microbial metabolism, and mixing
We expanded this line of research by developing a granular microbial preparation (GMP) that contain a stable community of hydrogen–producing bacteria and tested this product in the hydrogen dark fermentation of organic waste

Summary

Introduction

The use of molecular hydrogen represents a promising alternative strategy for generating energy for industrial applications [1,2]. Hydrogen has a high specific energy density and is environmentally friendly since its combustion yields only water. The U.S Department of Energy, the International Partnership for Hydrogen Economy, and the European. It has been suggested that by the year 2100 hydrogen will become a significant source of energy in the automotive industry, production of electricity, chemical manufacturing (ammonium derivatives, etc.), refineries, and production of electronics [3]. Hydrogen can be generated using various chemical, electrochemical, and biological approaches [3,5]. The use of microbiological technologies can reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of hydrogen production, and, at the same time, help to protect the environment

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