Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis through strategies of carbon recovery from alkaline/thermal treated sludge

doi:10.1007/s11783-020-1348-4

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (4) : 56 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1348-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis through strategies of carbon recovery from alkaline/thermal treated sludge

Ling Wang¹, Chunxue Yang², Sangeetha Thangavel³, Zechong Guo⁴, Chuan Chen¹, Aijie Wang^1,⁵, Wenzong Liu⁵(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
². Heilongjiang Cold Region Wetland Ecology and Environment Research Key Laboratory, School of Geography and Tourism, Harbin University, Harbin 150086, China
³. Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-Conditioning Engineering, Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, China
⁴. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212013, China
⁵. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China

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Abstract

• High hydrogen yield is recovered from thermal-alkaline pretreated sludge.

• Separating SFL by centrifugation is better than filtration for hydrogen recovery.

• The cascaded bioconversion of complex substrates in MECs are studied.

• Energy and electron efficiency related to substrate conversion are evaluated.

The aim of this study was to investigate the biohydrogen production from thermal (T), alkaline (A) or thermal-alkaline (TA) pretreated sludge fermentation liquid (SFL) in a microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) without buffer addition. Highest hydrogen yield of 36.87±4.36 mgH₂/gVSS (0.026 m³/kg COD) was achieved in TA pretreated SFL separated by centrifugation, which was 5.12, 2.35 and 43.25 times higher than that of individual alkaline, thermal pretreatment and raw sludge, respectively. Separating SFL from sludge by centrifugation eliminated the negative effects of particulate matters, was more conducive for hydrogen production than filtration. The accumulated short chain fatty acid (SCFAs) after pretreatments were the main substrates for MEC hydrogen production. The maximum utilization ratio of acetic acid, propionic acid and n-butyric acid was 93.69%, 90.72% and 91.85%, respectively. These results revealed that pretreated WAS was highly efficient to stimulate the accumulation of SCFAs. And the characteristics and cascade bioconversion of complex substrates were the main factor that determined the energy efficiency and hydrogen conversion rate of MECs.

Keywords Waste activated sludge (WAS) Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) Hydrogen Pretreatment Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs)

Corresponding Author(s): Wenzong Liu

Issue Date: 15 October 2020

Cite this article:

Ling Wang,Chunxue Yang,Sangeetha Thangavel, et al. Enhanced hydrogen production in microbial electrolysis through strategies of carbon recovery from alkaline/thermal treated sludge[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2021, 15(4): 56.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-020-1348-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2021/V15/I4/56

Tab.1 Characteristics of dissolved organic matter in sludge after pretreatment and 72 h fermentation.

Fig.1 Comparison of the compositions of SCFAs after pretreatment and the maximal accumulation during 72 h fermentation.

Fig.2 Current variation in two cycles of batch tests feeding with (a) CSFL and (b) FSFL.

Fig.3 Gas production in one batch feeding with FSFL (F) and CSFL (C). (a) H₂, (b) CH₄, (c) CO₂, (d) hydrogen production (The error bar was the standard deviation of the results in three parallel reactors).

Tab.2 Different substrates related to sludge used in MECs and hydrogen production rate and some important parameters

Fig.4 Soluble organics variety in MECs fed with FSFL and CSFL. (a) SCFAs in FSFL, (b) SCFAs in CSFL, (c) proteins in FSFL, (d) carbohydrates in FSFL.

Fig.5 Removal efficiency of dissolved organic compounds in MECs fed with (a) FSFL and (b) CSFL.

Fig.6 Analysis of energy efficiency, coulombic efficiency and electron recovery efficiency in MECs with (a) CSFL, (b) FSFL.

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