Influence of source and pre-treatments method of seed sludge on the hydrogen production from wastewater in anaerobic bioreactor

Author(s)

Eduardo Dellosso Penteado

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD)
• Defense date: 2012-03-30

Examining board members

Marcelo Zaiat; Magali Christe Cammarota; José Alberto Domingues Rodrigues

• Advisor: Marcelo Zaiat

Abstract

This paper investigated the influence of different inoculums and pretreatment of seed sludge on the biohydrogen production in up-flow anaerobic fixed-bed reactors. Particles of low-density polyethylene were used as support for biomass attachment and the reactor was operated with hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 h at 25ºC, fed with a sucrose-based synthetic wastewater. Two sources of inoculums were studied: anaerobic sludge from an UASB (up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket) reactor applied to treat poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (Sl) and anaerobic sludge from an UASB reactor treating swine wastewater (Sw), besides the autofermentation (A), with no inoculation of the reactor. In addition, two kinds of pretreatment heat (He) and acid (Ac) shock were evaluated. Hydrogen yields were 2.1, 2.0, 2.0,1.0, 1.0, 0.7, 0.7, mol \'H IND.2\' mol-1 sucrose when the reactors were inoculated with A, SlHe, SlAc, SwAc, Sl, Sw, and SwHe, respectively. In this nomenclature, the first two letters refer to source and the others refer to pretreatment. Although hydrogen (20-78%) and carbon dioxide (21-55%) have been the main gaseous products in the biogas, methane was detected in Sl, SlAc, Sw, SwHe and SwAc at the beginning and in the last days of the operation. Optimal \'H IND.2\' production rate (61.6 mL \'H IND.2\' h-1 L-1) was obtained when SlAc was used as seed sludge. On the other hand, the smallest value (15.1 mL \'H IND.2\' h-1 L-1) were observed using Sw inoculums. When the reactor was not inoculated (A), \'H IND.2\' production rate was 47.3 mL \'H IND.2\' h-1 L-1. Ethanol, butyric acid and acetic acid were the main soluble products detected in the liquid phase. In summary, the results have demonstrated that there are influences of the source and the pretreatment of the seed sludge in all parameters analyzed. Inoculums without pretreatment resulted in hydrogen productivity lower than those observed for experiments with pretreated inoculums due the selection of hydrogen producing bacteria (HPB). Furthermore, although the heat shock has generated the highest values of hydrogen yield, the acid-shock provided more stable operation with the highest average values. Besides, the autofermentation had almost the same performance than SlAc and SlHe and could be an alternative for biological hydrogen production due to natural selection of HPB. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/03927-0 - Influence of source of inoculum in the biological production of hydrogen from wastewater in anaerobic reactor
• Grantee: Eduardo Dellosso Penteado
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master