A novel gas separation integrated membrane bioreactor to evaluate the impact of self-generated biogas recycling on continuous hydrogen fermentation

Péter Bakonyi, Germán Buitrón, Idania Valdez-Vazquez, Nándor Nemestóthy and Katalin Bélafi-Bakó

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 190, issue C, 813-823

Abstract: A Gas Separation Membrane Bioreactor (GSMBR) by integrating membrane technology with a continuous biohydrogen fermenter was designed. The feasibility of this novel configuration for the improvement of hydrogen production capacity was tested by stripping the fermentation liquor with CO2- and H2-enriched gases, obtained directly from the bioreactor headspace. The results indicated that sparging the bioreactor with the CO2-concentrated fraction of the membrane separation unit (consisting of two PDMS modules) enhanced the steady-state H2 productivity (8.9–9.2 L H2/L-d) compared to the membrane-less control CSTR to be characterized with 6.96–7.35 L H2/L-d values. On the other hand, purging with the H2-rich gas strongly depressed the achievable productivity (2.7–3.03 L H2/L-d). Microbial community structure and soluble metabolic products were monitored to assess the GSMBR behavior. The study demonstrated that stripping the bioH2 fermenter with its own, self-generated atmosphere after adjusting its composition (to higher CO2-content) can be a promising way to intensify dark fermentative H2 evolution.

Keywords: Biohydrogen; Membrane bioreactor; Gas separation; Microbial community analysis; Dark fermentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.151

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