Anaerobic treatment of brewary wastewater with simultaneous hydrogen production

• Published in: Journal of water chemistry and technology Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 90 - 96
• Main Authors: Golub, N. B., Shchurskaya, E. A., Trotsenko, M. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Allerton Press 01.03.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; Anaerobic treatment; Aquatic Pollution; Biogas; Biological Methods of Water Treatment; Breweries; Brewing industry wastewaters; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Fermentation; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Membrane reactors; Microorganisms; Organic acids; Secondary wastewater; Secondary wastewater treatment; Waste Water Technology; Water Industry/Water Technologies; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water treatment; wastewater; exoelectrogenic microorganisms; bioelectrochemical fuel cell; hydrogen; anaerobic process
• ISSN: 1063-455X; 1934-936X
• DOI: 10.3103/S1063455X14020076

Processes of brewery wastewater treatment with sequential use of the fermentative and bioelectrochemical methods have been investigated. A two-stage fermentation increases the rate of substrate utilization and hydrogen production. The water treatment efficiency in terms of COD in the first and second fermenters amounts to 55–65% and 65–72%, respectively. The hydrogen concentration in biogas can reach 65%. The organic acids produced in anaerobic fermentation process represent a substrate for exoelectrogenic microorganisms of bioelectrochemical fuel cell, where the secondary wastewater treatment takes place for achieving COD values of 200–400 mg/dm 3 . The combination of the fermentative and bioelectrochemical processes of hydrogen production makes it possible to increase its yield by a factor of 2–4 and reach the level of 7–9 moles of H 2 per 1 mole of glucose.