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Novel Insights into Alkyl Polyglucoside Biosurfactant Promoting Anaerobic Dark Fermentation for Hydrogen Production in Sludge

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Abstract

Anaerobic fermentation of excess sludge (ES) for hydrogen production is a crucial strategy for resource utilization and environmentally friendly treatment. However, the low hydrolysis efficiency of ES and the depletion of produced hydrogen have become the limiting factors for low hydrogen yield. This study innovatively applied the bio-based surfactant alkyl polyglucoside (APG) to enhance the efficiency of dark fermentation for hydrogen production from ES. When the APG content was 100 mg/g (calculated based on total suspended solids), the maximum hydrogen production reached 17.8 mL/g VSS, approximately 3.7 times that in the control group. Mechanistic analysis revealed that APG promoted the release of organic matter from ES. APG also facilitated the release of soluble protein and soluble polysaccharide, increasing the organic matter reduction rate to 34.8%, significantly higher than other groups. APG enhanced the accumulation of volatile fatty acids and promoted the proportion of small molecular carboxylic acids. Enzyme activity analysis revealed that APG promoted the activity of hydrolytic enzymes but inhibited the activity of hydrogen-consuming enzymes. The research results provide a green and environmentally friendly strategy for the efficient resource utilization of ES.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the project of Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (No. 152208318).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, JiaoZuo University, JiaoZuo, 454000, China

    Xuemei Yang & Tiantian Yang

  2. Gongyi Branch of Zhengzhou Ecological Environment Bureau, Zhengzhou, 451299, China

    Yazhou Xu

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  1. Xuemei Yang
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  2. Tiantian Yang
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  3. Yazhou Xu
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Contributions

Xuemei Yang: writing—original draft. Tiantian Yang: writing—review and editing. Yazhou Xu: writing—review and editing, project administration.

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Correspondence to Xuemei Yang.

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Yang, X., Yang, T. & Xu, Y. Novel Insights into Alkyl Polyglucoside Biosurfactant Promoting Anaerobic Dark Fermentation for Hydrogen Production in Sludge. Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-024-04923-5

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