Continuous fermentative hydrogen production using a two-phase reactor system with recycle.

Abstract

The effects of effluent recycle were examined in a two-phase anaerobic system where the first phase was operated for fermentative hydrogen production and the second for methanogenesis. The hydrogen reactor was operated as a chemostat at 35 degrees C and pH 5.5 with a 10 h hydraulic retention time, and the methane reactor was operated as an up-flow reactor at 28 degrees C and pH between 6.9 and 7.2. Two recycle ratios were examined: 0 and 0.98. Effluent recycle reduced the required alkalinity for pH control by approximately 40%. The H2 productivity metric, with a basis in electrons and incorporating both gaseous and dissolved H2, was developed as a more fundamental reporting method than the molar H2 yield. Without recycle, the H2 productivity was 0.115 g of H2 COD/g of feed COD, but decreased to 0.015 q of H2 COD/g of feed COD with recycle (COD = chemical oxygen demand). Mass balances indicated the lower H2 productivity during recycle was due to electrons being partitioned to methane and less-oxidized soluble constituents such as propionic acid, ethanol, and butanol. The results indicated that achieving high H2 productivity with nonsterile wastewaters will be challenging and membrane filtration of the recycle liquid may be required to exclude the return of hydrogen-consuming organisms.