Biohydrogen production by treating agro-industry wastes (whey and glycerin) in an AnSBBR operated in thermophilic condition

• Grant number: 18/17715-6
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): February 07, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal researcher: Marcelo Zaiat
• Grantee: Giovanna Lovato
• Home Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 15/06246-7 - Biorefinery concept applied to biological wastewater treatment plants: environmental pollution control coupled with material and energy recovery, AP.TEM

Abstract

Hydrogen (H2) stands out as promising candidate for the energy of the future by its high calorific power and, more importantly, for only producing water when reacting with oxygen in fuel cells. H2 can be generated from the biological anaerobiosis of organic wastes in a process where these rejects become raw materials for the production of high-value-added biofuels. Brazil stands out for the large production of cheese whey and glycerin which have strong pollutant potential if they are not disposed of properly, and can be used for hydrogen production. Thus, the challenge of this research project is to establish the bases to apply the concept of biorefinery to a plant of biological treatment of whey or glycerin wastewaters with the generation of biofuels. This concept is based on the use of anaerobic reactors operated in a discontinuous and/or discontinuously fed mode with immobilized biomass in inert support reactor (AnSBBR) as main units of the plant. In this context, this project aims to evaluate the application of a AnSBBR in the process of producing hydrogen from whey or glycerin wastewaters. Process stability, efficiency of substrate conversion, the yield between produced hydrogen and consumed substrate, and the molar specific productivity will be analyzed according to various organic loading rates by modifying influent concentration and cycle length, including the effect of fill/feed time and temperature. Furthermore, the microbial consortia present in the reactors will be phylogenetic characterized aiming to understand the relationship between the effect of different operational parameters on the structure of the microbial community and the process performance.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RAMOS, LUCAS RODRIGUES; LOVATO, GIOVANNA; DOMINGUES RODRIGUES, JOSE ALBERTO; SILVA, EDSON LUIZ. Anaerobic digestion of vinasse in fluidized bed reactors: Process robustness between two-stage thermophilic-thermophilic and thermophilic-mesophilic systems. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, v. 314, SEP 10 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

LOVATO, GIOVANNA; KOVALOVSZKI, ADAM; ALVARADO-MORALES, MERLIN; ARJUNA JEGLOT, ARNAUD TRISTAN; DOMINGUES RODRIGUES, JOSE ALBERTO; ANGELIDAKI, IRINI. Modelling bioaugmentation: Engineering intervention in anaerobic digestion. RENEWABLE ENERGY, v. 175, p. 1080-1087, SEP 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

TEIXEIRA PENTEADO, ALBERTO; LOVATO, GIOVANNA; PEREZ ORTIZ, ABIGAIL; ESCHE, ERIK; DOMINGUES RODRIGUES, JOSE ALBERTO; GODINI, HAMID REZA; ORJUELA, ALVARO; GUSCA, JULIJA; REPKE, JENS-UWE. Economic Potential of Bio-Ethylene Production via Oxidative Coupling of Methane in Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion of Industrial Effluents. PROCESSES, v. 9, n. 9 SEP 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

LOVATO, GIOVANNA; GASPARI AUGUSTO, ISABELA MEHI; NUNES FERRAZ JUNIOR, ANTONIO DJALMA; ALBANEZ, ROBERTA; RATUSZNEI, SUZANA MARIA; ETCHEBEHERE, CLAUDIA; ZAIAT, MARCELO; DOMINGUES RODRIGUES, JOSE ALBERTO. Reactor start-up strategy as key for high and stable hydrogen production from cheese whey thermophilic dark fermentation. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, v. 46, n. 54, p. 27364-27379, AUG 5 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.