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Bio-hydrogen Production from Sewage Sludge: Screening for Pretreatments and Semi-continuous Reactor Operation

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Abstract

The high volumes of sewage sludge produced have raised interests for simultaneous treatment and clean energy production, e.g. in the form of hydrogen. Pretreatment of sewage sludge is required to enhance microbial degradation and in turn hydrogen yield from sewage sludge. The potential of five substrate pretreatments, individually and in combinations, to increase biohydrogen production from mixed primary and secondary sewage sludge at four incubation pH (5, 7, 9, and 11) was studied in batch assays. Alkali + ultrasonication pretreatment increased the hydrogen production almost seven times (0.35 mmol H2/g VS) compared to untreated sewage sludge at initial pH 11. In general, higher hydrogen yields and lower acetate concentrations were obtained under alkaline conditions (pH 9 and 11), being more favorable for protein degradation and not favorable for hydrogen consumption via homoacetogenesis. Subsequently, fermentation of alkali + ultrasonication pretreated sewage sludge in a semi-continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) produced a maximum hydrogen yield of 0.1 mmol H2/g VS, three times higher than the yield obtained from alkali pretreated sludge. The gas produced in the CSTRs contained a low concentration of CO2 (< 5%), and is thus easily upgradable to biohydrogen.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support received from the Finnish National Agency for Education (Finnish Government Scholarship Pool) and Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Egypt (MOHESR) is duly acknowledged. The authors gratefully thank the Viinikanlahti municipal wastewater treatment plant (Tampere, Finland) for providing the raw materials.

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Author notes

  1. Pritha Chatterjee

    Present address: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, 502285, India

  2. Paolo Dessì

    Present address: National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, H91 TK33, Ireland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, PO Box 541, 33104, Tampere, Finland

    Mohamed El-Qelish, Pritha Chatterjee, Paolo Dessì, Marika Kokko & Jukka Rintala

  2. Water Pollution Research Department, National Research Centre, El Buhouth St., Dokki, P.O. Box 12622, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed El-Qelish & Fatma El-Gohary

  3. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed Abo-Aly

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  1. Mohamed El-Qelish
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El-Qelish, M., Chatterjee, P., Dessì, P. et al. Bio-hydrogen Production from Sewage Sludge: Screening for Pretreatments and Semi-continuous Reactor Operation. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 4225–4234 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00743-5

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