Biohydrogen production from wastewater-grown microalgae-bacteria consortia: Optimizing inoculum selection for enhanced yield

Thiago Abrantes Silva, Matheus Neves de Araujo, Elias Gabriel Fernandes de Rezende, Flávia Talarico Saia, Iara Barbosa Magalhães, Alexia Saleme Aona de Paula Pereira, Jéssica Ferreira, Gustavo B. Gregoracci, Maria Ângela Tallarico Adorno, Lucas Tadeu Fuess, Marcelo Zaiat and Maria Lúcia Calijuri

Renewable Energy, 2025, vol. 247, issue C

Abstract: The rising demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste management has encouraged interest in biohydrogen (bioH2) as a clean energy source. This study aimed to assess the potential of microalgae-bacteria consortia biomass (MBCB) as an inoculum for bioH2 production. MBCB, cultivated in high-rate algal ponds (HRAPs) treating domestic wastewater, was used to produce bioH2. Natural fermentation (NF) was applied to both raw (RB) and thermally pretreated biomass (PB) for 5, 10, and 15 days to optimize microbial selection. Biohydrogen production potential (BHP) and microbial dynamics were evaluated. Thermal pretreatment enhanced bioH2 yield but prolonged the lag phase and lowered production rates. RB fermented for 5 days (RB-5) achieved the highest bioH2 production rate (1.25 ± 0.08 mmol H2 h−1). Microbial analysis revealed higher diversity in RB than PB, with PB selecting thermoresistant microorganisms like Clostridia. NF promoted shifts in microbial communities, favoring fermentative bacteria. These findings underscore the promise of using MBCB as inoculum for bioH2 production and demonstrate the viability of integrating NF and MBCB for renewable energy generation from wastewater biomass. However, additional economic and environmental evaluations are required to confirm feasibility at larger scales.

Keywords: Dark fermentation; Natural fermentation; Waste valorization; 16S rRNA gene sequencing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125007414
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:247:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125007414

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123079

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().