Simultaneous production of acetate and methane from glycerol by selective enrichment of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in extreme-thermophilic (70°C) mixed culture fermentation

Fang Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yun Chen, Kun Dai, Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht and Raymond J. Zeng

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 148, issue C, 326-333

Abstract: The feasibility of simultaneous production of acetate and methane from glycerol was investigated by selective enrichment of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in an extreme-thermophilic (70°C) fermentation. Fed-batch experiments showed acetate was produced at the concentration up to 13.0g/L. A stable operation of the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was reached within 100days. Acetate accounted for more than 90 w/w% of metabolites in the fermentation liquid. The yields of methane and acetate were close to the theoretical yields with 0.74–0.80mol-methane/mol-glycerol and 0.63–0.70mol-acetate/mol-glycerol. The obtained microbial community was characterized. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens, mainly Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus formed 93% of the methanogenogenic community. This confirms that a high temperature (70°C) could effectively select for hydrogenotrophic methanogenic archaea. Thermoanaerobacter spp. was the main bacterium forming 91.5% of the bacterial population. This work demonstrated the conversion of the byproduct of biodiesel production, glycerol, to acetate as a chemical and biogas for energy generation.

Keywords: Extreme thermophilic; Mixed culture fermentation; Glycerol; Acetate; Methane; Hydrogenotrophic methanogens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.03.104

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