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The role of endogenous and exogenous hydrogen in the microbiology of biogas production systems

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Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is an effective process for the treatment of organic solid waste and wastewater and the production of biogas, which is a clean energy source. The carbon dioxide in the biogas can be converted into methane using hydrogen generated from water electrolysis through an approach referred to as power-to-gas. Recently, hydrogen has been added to digesters as an in-situ or ex-situ biogas upgrade to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide. Biogas production systems consist of microbial complexes with highly organized microorganisms in different niches, which can either produce or consume hydrogen. However, the produced endogenous hydrogen should be constantly consumed to maintain a low hydrogen partial pressure. This review addresses the biochemical processes of anaerobic digestion and hydrogen-related microorganisms, including fermentative acid-producing bacteria, syntrophic organic acid degrading bacteria, syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria, homoacetogens, hydrogenotrophic methanogens, and newly reported hydrogen-dependent methylotrophic methanogens. This study also investigates (1) the role of endogenous hydrogen as an intermediate metabolite and of interspecies electron transfer in anaerobic digestion, (2) effects of exogenous hydrogen addition on microbial community structure and metabolic processes, and (3) recent developments regarding in-situ and ex-situ biogas upgrading systems via hydrogen addition.

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Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFD1100603), Chengdu International Science and Technology Cooperation Project (2019-GH02-00024-Hz), West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2018XBZG_XBQNXZ_A_004, 2019XBZG_JCTD_ZDSYS_001), Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017423), and Special fund for talented persons of Sichuan provincial Party Committee Organization Department.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, No. 9 Section 4, Renmin Nan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Xianpu Zhu, Pan Zhou, Yichao Chen, Xiaofeng Liu & Dong Li

  2. Biomass Energy Engineering Research Centre, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xianpu Zhu

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  1. Xianpu Zhu
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  2. Pan Zhou
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  3. Yichao Chen
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  4. Xiaofeng Liu
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  5. Dong Li
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Correspondence to Dong Li.

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Zhu, X., Zhou, P., Chen, Y. et al. The role of endogenous and exogenous hydrogen in the microbiology of biogas production systems. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 36, 79 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02856-9

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