Abstract
Continuous hydrogen production stability and robustness by dark fermentation were comprehensively studied at laboratory scale. Continuous bioreactors were operated at two different hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 6 and 10 h. The reactors were subjected to feeding shocks given by decreases in the HRT, and therefore the organic loading increases, during 6 and 24 h. Results indicated that the H2 productivity was significantly improved by the temporary organic shock loads, increasing the hydrogen production rate up to 40%, compared to the rate obtained at the steady-state condition. Besides, it was observed that after the shock load, the stability of the reactor (measured as the hydrogen production rate) was recovered attaining the values observed before the feeding shocks. The bioreactor operated at shorter HRT (6 h) showed better H2 productivity (17.3 ± 1.1 L H2/L-d) in comparison with the other one operated at 10-h HRT (12.4 ± 1.6 L H2/L-d).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arooj MF, Han SK, Kim SH, Kim DH, Shin HK (2008) Continuous biohydrogen production in a CSTR using starch as a substrate. Int J Hydrogen Energy 33:3289–3294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.04.022
Baghchehsaraee B, Nakhla G, Karamanev D, Margaritis A (2011) Revivability of fermentative hydrogen producing bioreactors. Int J Hydrogen Energy 36:2086–2092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.11.038
Bakonyi P, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K (2013) Biohydrogen purification by membranes: an overview on the operational conditions affecting the performance of non-porous, polymeric and ionic liquid based gas separation membranes. Int J Hydrogen Energy 38:9673–9687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.05.158
Bakonyi P, Nemestóthy N, Simon V, Bélafi-Bakó K (2014a) Fermentative hydrogen production in anaerobic membrane bioreactors: a review. Bioresour Technol 156:357–363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.01.079
Bakonyi P, Nemestóthy N, Simon V, Bélafi-Bakó K (2014b) Review on the start-up experiences of continuous fermentative hydrogen producing bioreactors. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 40:806–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.08.014
Bakonyi P, Nemestóthy N, Lankó J, Rivera I, Buitrón G, Bélafi-Bakó K (2015) Simultaneous biohydrogen production and purification in a double-membrane bioreactor system. Int J Hydrogen Energy 40:1690–1697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.12.002
Bakonyi P, Bogdán F, Kocsi V, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K, Buitrón G (2016) Investigating the effect of hydrogen sulfide impurities on the separation of fermentatively produced hydrogen by PDMS membrane. Sep Purif Technol 157:222–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2015.11.016
Bakonyi P, Buitrón G, Valdez-Vazquez I, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K (2017) A novel gas separation integrated membrane reactor to evaluate the impact of self-generated biogas recycling on continuous hydrogen fermentation. Appl Energy 190:813–823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.151
Buitrón G, Carvajal C (2010) Biohydrogen production from Tequila vinasses in an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor: effect of initial substrate concentration, temperature and hydraulic retention time. Bioresour Technol 101:9071–9077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.06.127
Buitrón G, Kumar G, Martinez-Arce A, Moreno G (2014) Hydrogen and methane production via a two-stage processes (H2-SBR + CH4-UASB) using Tequila vinasses. Int J Hydrogen Energy 39:19249–19255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.04.139
Chen CC, Lin CY, Lin MC (2002) Acid–base enrichment enhances anaerobic hydrogen production process. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 58:224–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530100814
DuBois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK, Rebers PA, Smith F (1956) Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Anal Chem 28:350–356. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac60111a017
Hafez H, Nakhla G, Naggar MHE, Elbeshbishy E, Baghchehsaraee B (2010) Effect of organic loading on a novel hydrogen bioreactor. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35:81–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.10.051
Hallenbeck PC (2009) Fermentative hydrogen production: principles, progress, and prognosis. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:7379–7389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.12.080
Hawkes FR, Dinsdale R, Hawkes DL, Hussy I (2002) Sustainable fermentative hydrogen production: challenges for process optimization. Int J Hydrogen Energy 27:1339–1347. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-3199(02)00090-3
Hernández-Mendoza CE, Buitrón G (2014) Suppression of methanogenic activity in anaerobic granular biomass for hydrogen production. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 89:143–149. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.4143
Hernández-Mendoza CE, Moreno-Andrade I, Buitrón G (2014) Comparison of hydrogen-producing bacterial communities adapted in continuous and discontinuous reactors. Int J Hydrogen Energy 39:14234–14239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.01.014
Jung KW, Kim DH, Kim SH, Shin HK (2011) Bioreactor design for continuous dark fermentative hydrogen production. Bioresour Technol 102:8612–8620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.03.056
Kim DH, Han SK, Kim SH, Shin HK (2006) Effect of gas sparging on continuous fermentative hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 31:2158–2169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2006.02.012
Krupp M, Widmann R (2009) Biohydrogen production by dark fermentation: experiences of continuous operation in large lab scale. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:4509–4516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.10.043
Kumar G, Bakonyi P, Periyasamy S, Kim SH, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K (2015) Lignocellulose biohydrogen: practical challenges and recent progress. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 44:728–737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.01.042
Kumar G, Bakonyi P, Kobayashi T, Xu KQ, Sivagurunathan P, Kim SH, Buitrón G, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K (2016) Enhancement of biofuel production via microbial augmentation: the case of dark fermentative hydrogen. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 57:879–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.107
Lee HS, Salerno MB, Rittmann BE (2008) Thermodynamic evaluation on H2 production in glucose fermentation. Environ Sci Technol 42:2401–2407. https://doi.org/10.1021/es702610v
Lee HS, Vermaas WFJ, Rittmann BE (2010) Biological hydrogen production: prospects and challenges. Trends Biotechnol 28:262–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.01.007
Lin CY, Chang CC, Hung CH (2008) Fermentative hydrogen production from starch using natural mixed cultures. Int J Hydrogen Energy 33:2445–2453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.02.069
Park JH, Kumar G, Park JH, Park HD, Kim SH (2015) Changes in performance and bacterial communities in response to various disturbances in a high-rate biohydrogen reactor fed with galactose. Bioresour Technol 188:109–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.01.107
Ramírez-Morales JE, Tapia-Venegas E, Nemestóthy N, Bakonyi P, Bélafi-Bakó K, Ruiz-Filippi G (2013) Evaluation of two gas membrane modules for fermentative hydrogen separation. Int J Hydrogen Energy 38:14042–14052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.01.107
Ramírez-Morales JE, Torres Zúñiga I, Buitrón G (2015) On-line heuristic optimization strategy to maximize the hydrogen production rate in a continuous stirred tank reactor. Process Biochem 50:893–900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2015.03.003
Shen L, Bagley DM, Liss SN (2009) Effect of organic loading rate on fermentative hydrogen production from continuous stirred tank and membrane bioreactors. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:3689–3696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.03.006
Show KY, Lee DJ, Chang JS (2011) Bioreactor and process design for biohydrogen production. Bioresour Technol 102:8524–8533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.04.055
Sivagurunathan P, Kumar G, Bakonyi P, Kim SH, Kobayashi T, Xu KQ, Lakner G, Tóth G, Nemestóthy N, Bélafi-Bakó K (2016) A critical review on issues and overcoming strategies for the enhancement of dark fermentative hydrogen production in continuous systems. Int J Hydrogen Energy 41:3820–3836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.12.081
Tapia-Venegas E, Ramirez JE, Donoso-Bravo A, Jorquera L, Steyer JP, Ruiz-Filippi G (2013) Bio-hydrogen production during acidogenic fermentation in a multistage stirred tank reactor. Int J Hydrogen Energy 38:2185–2190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.11.077
Thanwised P, Wirojanagud W, Reungsang A (2012) Effect of hydraulic retention time on hydrogen production and chemical oxygen demand removal from tapioca wastewater using anaerobic mixed cultures in anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR). Int J Hydrogen Energy 37:15503–15510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.02.068
Valdez-Vazquez I, Poggi-Varaldo HM (2009) Hydrogen production by fermentative consortia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 13:1000–1013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.03.003
Villa-Leyva A (2015) Optimización heurística de un fermentador productor de hidrógeno modificando la carga orgánica. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D. F.
Wang J, Wang W (2009) Factors influencing fermentative hydrogen production: a review. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:799–811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.11.015
Zhang A (2014) Real time optimization of hydrogen production in a continuous fermentation bioreactor. Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague. https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/166/586/RUG01-002166586_2014_0001_AC.pdf
Acknowledgements
The financial support granted by “Fondo de Sustentabilidad Energética SENER—CONACYT (Mexico)”, through the Project 247006 Gaseous Biofuels Cluster, is gratefully acknowledged. Isaac Monroy acknowledges the CONACYT Postdoctoral Scholarship [291113]. Péter Bakonyi acknowledges the support received from National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Hungary) under Grant No. PD 115640. We highly appreciate and acknowledge the technical support provided by M.Sc. Jaime Perez and Mr. José N. Rivera Campos, who generated the data from the reactors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Monroy, I., Bakonyi, P. & Buitrón, G. Temporary feeding shocks increase the productivity in a continuous biohydrogen-producing reactor. Clean Techn Environ Policy 20, 1581–1588 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-018-1555-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-018-1555-x