Abstract
Low biological hydrogen (bioH2) production due to non-optimal metabolic pathways occurs frequently. In this work, magnetic nitrogen-doped activated carbon (MNAC) was prepared and added into the inoculated sludge with glucose as substrate to enhance hydrogen (H2) yield by mesophilic dark fermentation (DF). The highest H2 yield appeared in 400 mg/L AC (252.8 mL/g glucose) and 600 mg/L MNAC group (304.8 mL/g glucose), which were 26.02% and 51.94% higher than that of 0 mg/L MNAC group (200.6 mL/g glucose). The addition of MNAC allowed for efficient enrichment of Firmicutes and Clostridium-sensu-stricto-1, accelerating the metabolic pathway shifted towards butyrate type. The Fe ions released by MNAC facilitated electron transfer and favored the reduction of ferredoxin (Fd), thereby obtaining more bioH2. Finally, the generation of [Fe-Fe] hydrogenase and cellular components of H2-producing microbes (HPM) during homeostasis was discussed to understand on the use of MNAC in DF system.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2016EEM33), and the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, China (ZZ20210125).
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Jishi Zhang, Kexin Tian, Mengchen Yang, and Lihua Zang contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Kexin Tian and Mengchen Yang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Kexin Tian, Chen Zhou, Xiaoying Zhang, and Xiao Yan, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Tian, ., Zhang, J., Zhou, C. et al. Magnetic nitrogen-doped activated carbon improved biohydrogen production. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 87215–87227 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28584-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28584-9