Kinetics of Nano-catalysed Dark Fermentative Hydrogen Production from Distillery Wastewater

Abstract

Kinetics of nano-catalysed dark fermentative biohydrogen production from molasses-based distillery wastewater has been reported. Iron oxide nanoparticle was supplemented (10-200 mgL-1) to the wastewater to enhance the biohydrogen production. Andrew's inhibition model was employed to evaluate the rate of hydrogen production (RH2) and hydrogen yield at different concentration of iron oxide nanoparticles. The maximum RH2 and specific hydrogen yield (SHY) for the fermentative hydrogen production system at different concentration of iron oxide nanoparticle were found to be 80.7ml/hr and 44.28ml H2/g COD. Michaelis-Menton equation was applied to determine the rate of hydrogen production (RH2) and yield of H2 (SHY) at different initial pH (5, 6 & 7). Andrew's inhibition model has been used to describe the inhibitory effect of substrate concentration on the rate of H2 production (RH2). RH2 decreased with the increase in substrate concentration but SHY first decreased with substrate concentration and it is maximum at higher substrate concentration of 110 gL-1. Monod model has been used to determine the growth kinetic parameters. The values of maximum rates of microbial growth (μm) and substrate utilization (Rsu) were 0.1g biomass/g biomass/day and 14.03g COD/g biomass/day respectively at different iron oxide nanoparticles concentration.