Biofuel Research Journal

Biofuel Research Journal

Biogenic H2 production from mixed microalgae biomass: impact of pH control and methanogenic inhibitor (BESA) addition

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Gopalakrishnan Kumar 1, 2
Guangyin Zhen 2
Periyasamy Sivagurunathan 2
Péter Bakonyi 3
Nándor Nemestóthy 3
Katalin Bélafi-Bakó 3
Takuro Kobayashi 2
Kai-Qin Xu 2, 4
1 Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Environment Research Group, Faculty of Environmental and Labour Safety, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
2 Center for materials cycles and waste management research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
3 Research Institute on Bioengineering, Membrane Technology and Energetics, University of Pannonia, Egyetem ut 10, 8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
4 School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
10.18331/BRJ2016.3.3.6
Abstract
Hydrogen production from mixed microalgae biomass, predominantly containing Scendesmus and chlorella species, was investigated with a focus on enhancement strategies, in particular (i) pH control (at 5.5) and (ii) methanogenic inhibitor (BESA) addition along with pH control at 5.5. The results obtained showed that the later condition remarkably increased the performances. This was mainly ascribed to the occurrence of a suitable environment for the hydrogen producers to perform actively. Hydrogen production under these conditions (i.e., both pH 5.5 and pH5.5+BESA) was significantly higher than that of the control experiment. Using the pH control at 5.5 and BESA addition, peak hydrogen production rate (HPR) and hydrogen yield (HY) were attained as 210 mL/L/d and 29.5 mL/g VSadded, respectively. This improvement was nearly 3-folds higher compared with the control experiment with an HPR of 62 mL/L/d and an HY of 9.5 mL/g VSadded.

Graphical Abstract

Biogenic H2 production from mixed microalgae biomass: impact of pH control and methanogenic inhibitor (BESA) addition

Highlights

  • Mixed microalgal biomass was evaluated for fermentative biohydrogen production.
  • pH control at 5.5 was necessary for enhancement of production performances.
  • Methanogenic inhibitor (BESA) addition enhanced hydrogen production by 3 folds.

Keywords
Mixed microalgae consortia
pH control
Methanogenic inhibitor (BESA)
Hydrogen yield
Hydrogen production rate
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Biofuel Research Journal
Volume 3, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
Summer 2016
Pages 470-474