Biological fermentation pilot-scale systems and evaluation for commercial viability towards sustainable biohydrogen production

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 4539 - 12
• Main Authors: Zhang, Quanguo, Jiao, Youzhou, He, Chao, Ruan, Roger, Hu, Jianjun, Ren, Jingzheng, Toniolo, Sara, Jiang, Danping, Lu, Chaoyang, Li, Yameng, Man, Yi, Zhang, Huan, Zhang, Zhiping, Xia, Chenxi, Wang, Yi, Jing, Yanyan, Zhang, Xueting, Lin, Ruojue, Li, Gang, Yue, Jianzhi, Tahir, Nadeem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.05.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 38/47; 639/166/898; 639/4077/909/4053/906/4055; 704/844/685; Biofuels; Biohydrogen; Biomass; Bioreactors; Carbon dioxide; Coupling; Fermentation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen; Hydrogen - metabolism; Hydrogen production; multidisciplinary; Multiphase flow; Payback periods; Pilot Projects; Purity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sustainability; Temperature effects
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48790-4

Featuring high caloric value, clean-burning, and renewability, hydrogen is a fuel believed to be able to change energy structure worldwide. Biohydrogen production technologies effectively utilize waste biomass resources and produce high-purity hydrogen. Improvements have been made in the biohydrogen production process in recent years. However, there is a lack of operational data and sustainability analysis from pilot plants to provide a reference for commercial operations. In this report, based on spectrum coupling, thermal effect, and multiphase flow properties of hydrogen production, continuous pilot-scale biohydrogen production systems (dark and photo-fermentation) are established as a research subject. Then, pilot-scale hydrogen production systems are assessed in terms of sustainability. The system being evaluated, consumes 171,530 MJ of energy and emits 9.37 t of CO 2 eq when producing 1 t H 2 , and has a payback period of 6.86 years. Our analysis also suggests future pathways towards effective biohydrogen production technology development and real-world implementation. Biohydrogen production technologies effectively use waste biomass resources and produce high-purity hydrogen. Here, authors present and evaluate a continuous pilot-scale biohydrogen production system based on spectrum coupling, thermal effect, and multiphase flow properties of hydrogen production.