Hydrogen and ethanol production in anaerobic fluidized bed reactors: Performance evaluation for three support materials under different operating conditions

• Published in: Biochemical engineering journal Vol. 61; pp. 59 - 65
• Main Authors: Barros, Aruana Rocha, Silva, Edson Luiz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.02.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: acetic acid; Acid fermentation; Anaerobic fluidized bed reactor; biogas; Biological and medical sciences; bioreactors; Biotechnology; butyric acid; carbon; ethanol; Ethanol production; fluidized beds; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; glucose; heat treatment; hydrogen; Hydrogen production; inoculum; lactic acid; metabolites; polyethylene terephthalates; polystyrenes; propionic acid; Support material; temperature; tires; Anaerobic fluidized bed reactor; Support material; Acid fermentation; Hydrogen production; Ethanol production; Performance evaluation; Fluidized bed reactor; Ethanol; Support; Anaerobe; Hydrogen; Materials; Production; Operating conditions
• ISSN: 1369-703X; 1873-295X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2011.12.002

► The biological production of hydrogen and ethanol was evaluated in AFBR. ► The AFBRs contained polystyrene (R1), grounded tire (R2), and PET (R3). ► The best performance was achieved with reactor R2 (2.11molH2mol−1 glucose). ► The R3 showed a better performance for ethanol concentration (1941.78mgL−1). The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different support materials (polystyrene – R1, grounded tire – R2 and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – R3) on producing hydrogen and ethanol using three anaerobic fluidized bed reactors. Each reactor had a total volume of 4192cm3 and was fed with media containing glucose as the carbon source (4000mgL−1) with an influent pH around 5.0 and an effluent pH of about 3.5, a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8–1h at a temperature of 23±2°C, with thermal treatment of the inoculum. For hydrogen production, the best performance was achieved with R2 (2.11molH2mol−1 glucose), providing the highest H2 content in biogas (60%). In all reactors, the predominant soluble metabolites were acetic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid and ethanol, with small amounts of propionic acid. The reactor R2 produced more acetic and butyric acid (434.74 and 1013.61mgL−1, respectively). However, reactor R3 showed a better performance for ethanol concentration (1941.78mgL−1).