THE EFFECT OF MIXING MODES ON BIOHYDROGEN YIELD AND SPATIAL PH GRADIENT AT DARK FERMENTATION OF SOLID FOOD WASTE

Abstract

Dark fermentation of multicomponent solid food waste by soil hydrogen-producing bacterial community was studied in horizontal batch reactor under different mechanical mixing modes; speed of mixing (rpm) and frequency of mixing (duration mixing and pause) were selected as target for optimization. Addition of pH indicator bromothymol blue to the culture liquid allowed to study patterns of formation of acidification zones in solid/liquid/gaseous fermentation system. It was detected that mixing speed can contribute to sustainable maintenance of optimal pH values and prevent formation of spatial pH gradient. Adjusting of mixing and pause duration resulted in significant decrease of digestion cycle and increase in volumetric hydrogen production rate. Established optimal mixing mode 24 rpm, 10 min of mixing/20 min of pause provided biohydrogen yield 123 LH2 kg-1 TSadded and reduction in the concentration of total suspended solids from 70 to 0.75 g/L in 4 days.