Fermentative hydrogen production from beet sugar factory wastewater treatment in a continuous stirred tank reactor using anaerobic mixed consortia

Abstract

A low pH, ethanol-type fermentation process was evaluated for wastewater treatment and bio-hydrogen production from acidic beet sugar factory wastewater in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with an effective volume of 9.6 L by anaerobic mixed cultures in this present study. After inoculating with aerobic activated sludge and operating at organic loading rate (OLR) of 12 kgCOD∙m^-3·d^-1, HRT of 8h, and temperature of 35°C for 28 days, the CSTR achieved stable ethanol-type fermentation. When OLR was further increased to 18 kgCOD∙m^-3·d^-1 on the 53rd day, ethanol-type fermentation dominant microflora was enhanced. The liquid fermentation products, including volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and ethanol, stabilized at 1493 mg·L^-1 in the bioreactor. Effluent pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and alkalinity ranged at 4.1–4.5, -250–(-290) mV, and 230–260 mgCaCO₃∙L^-1. The specific hydrogen production rate of anaerobic activated sludge was 0.1 L∙gMLVSS^-1·d^-1 and the COD removal efficiency was 45%. The experimental results showed that the CSTR system had good operation stability and microbial activity, which led to high substrate conversion rate and hydrogen production ability.

Keywords

fermentative hydrogen production / continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) / specific hydrogen production rate / beet sugar factory wastewater / ethanol-type fermentation

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-EW-402-02), Provincial Science Foundation of Fujian (No. 2010J01314), The Key Project of Fujian Provincial Science & Technology Program (No. 2012Y0069) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50808152).

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