Biohydrogen Production from Industrial Waste: The Role of Pretreatment Methods
Weronika Cieciura-Włoch (),
Wiktoria Hajduk,
Marta Ikert,
Tobiasz Konopski,
Min Hein Khant,
Jarosław Domański,
Bolin Zhang and
Dorota Kręgiel ()
Additional contact information
Weronika Cieciura-Włoch: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Lodz University of Technology, Wolczańska 171/173, 90-530 Lodz, Poland
Wiktoria Hajduk: International Faculty of Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Żwirki 36, 90-539 Lodz, Poland
Marta Ikert: International Faculty of Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Żwirki 36, 90-539 Lodz, Poland
Tobiasz Konopski: International Faculty of Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Żwirki 36, 90-539 Lodz, Poland
Min Hein Khant: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Via Andrea D’Accorso, 62032 Camerino, MC, Italy
Jarosław Domański: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Lodz University of Technology, Wolczańska 171/173, 90-530 Lodz, Poland
Bolin Zhang: Beijing Key Laboratory of Forest Food Processing and Safety, College of Biological Science & Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Dorota Kręgiel: Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Lodz University of Technology, Wolczańska 171/173, 90-530 Lodz, Poland
Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-22
Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of dark fermentation in biohydrogen production from agro-industrial wastes, including apple pomace, brewer’s grains, molasses, and potato powder, subjected to different pretreatment methods. The experiments were conducted at a laboratory scale, using 1000 cm 3 anaerobic reactors at a temperature of 35 °C and anaerobic sludge as the inoculum. The highest yield of hydrogen was obtained from pre-treated apple pomace (101 cm 3 /g VS). Molasses, a less complex substrate compared to the other raw materials, produced 25% more hydrogen yield following pretreatment. Methanogens are sensitive to high temperatures and low-pH conditions. Nevertheless, methane constituted 1–6% of the total biogas under these conditions. The key factor was appropriate treatment of the inoculum, to limit competition from methanogens. Increasing the inoculum dose from 150 cm 3 /dm 3 to 250 cm 3 /dm 3 had no further effect on biogas production. The physicochemical parameters and VFA data confirmed the stability and usefulness of activated sludge as a source of microbial cultures for H 2 production via dark fermentation.
Keywords: dark fermentation; biohydrogen; industrial waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/20/5497/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/20/5497/ (text/html)
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:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:20:p:5497-:d:1774303
Access Statistics for this article
Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen
More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().