Jiunn‐Jyi Lay

The conversion of organics in wastewaters into hydrogen gas could serve the dual role of renewable energy production and waste reduction. The chemical energy in a sucrose rich synthetic wastewater was recovered as hydrogen gas in this study. Using fractional factorial design batch experiments, the effect of varying pH (4.5-7.5) and substrate concentration (1.5-44.8 g COD/L) and their interaction on hydrogen gas production were tested. Mixed bacterial cultures obtained from a compost pile, a potato field, and a soybean field were heated to inhibit hydrogen-consuming methanogens and to enrich sporeforming, hydrogen-producing acidogens. It was determined that the highest rate (74.7 mL H2/(L*h)) of hydrogen production occurred at a pH of 5.5 and a substrate concentration of 7.5 g COD/Lwith a conversion efficiency of 38.9 mL H2/(g COD/L). The highest conversion efficiency was 46.6 mL H2/(g COD/L).

The pH and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of a chemostat reactor were varied according to a central composite design methodology with the aim of modeling and optimizing the conversion of starch into hydrogen by microorganisms in an anaerobic digested sludge. Experimental results from 23 runs indicate that a maximum hydrogen production rate of 1600 L/m(3)/d under the organic loading rate of 6 kg starch m(3)/d obtained at pH = 5.2 and HRT = 17 h. Throughout this study, the hydrogen percentage in the biogas was approximately 60% and no methanogenesis was observed. while the reactor was operated with HRT of 17 h, hydrogen was produced within a pH range between 4.7 and 5.7. Alcohol production rate was greater than hydrogen production rate if the pH was lower than 4.3 or higher than 6.1. Supplementary experiments confirm that the optimum conditions evaluated in this study were highly reliable; while a hydrogen production yield of 1.29 l H(2)/g starch-COD was obtained. An examination of the response surfaces, including hydrogen, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and alcohols production, led us to the belief that clostridium sp. predominated in the anaerobic hydrogen-producing microorganisms in this study. Experiment results obtained emphasize that the response of metabolites was a more useful indicator than hydrogenic activity for obtaining efficient hydrogen production. Furthermore, expressions of contour plots indicate that Response-Surface Methodology may provide easily interpretable advice on the operation of a hydrogen-producing bioprocess.