Biohydrogen Production from Synthetic Wastewater in Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor
Biohydrogen is of interest because it can be produced from renewable resources including wastes under ambient conditions. In this study, anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBR) were used to produce hydrogen from synthetic wastewater under the mesophilic condition. Glucose was used as a substrate for carbon source. The anaerobic sludge taken from the anaerobic unit treating a brewery wastewater was pretreated by boiling for 15 min before adding into the ASBR units as a seeding sludge. The ASBR units were operated at different COD loading rates and the gas composition and the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA) were analyzed using a GC with a TCD and a GC with a FID, respectively. As the COD loading rate increased from 10 to 40 kg/m3d, the system pH decreased from 6.68 to 5.2 and the COD removal was in the range of 48.6 to 69.2%. At the optimum COD loading rate of 30 kg/m3d which corresponded to a HRT of 24 h, the produced gas was found to contain 38% H2 and 62% CO2 and the highest hydrogen yield was 1.16 mol-H2/mol-glucose consumed.