Kinetics of Biohydrogen Production from Ozonated Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using <i>C. butyricum</i> and <i>C. acetobutylicum</i> Co-Culture

Abstract

Kinetics of mesophilic biohydrogen production from ozone-pretreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) using C. butyricum and C. acetobutylicum co-culture was investigated. All experiments were setup in 0.5-L batch reactors under mesophilic condition (37°C), pH 6, and POME concentration of 5,000-30,000 mg COD L-1. At the concentration of 15,000 mg COD L-1, maximum hydrogen production yield for non-ozone pretreated POME and ozone pretreated POME were 318 and 122 mL g-1 CODremoved, respectively. Acetic and butyric acids were dominant fermentation products in liquid phase. Ozone-pretreatment of POME showed no significant improvement on the hydrogen production by the co-culture.