Effects of thermally pretreated temperature on bio-hydrogen production from sewage sludge

Article type: Research Article

Authors: XIAO, Ben-yi | LIU, Jun-xin

Affiliations: Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: jxliu@rcees.ac.cn

Abstract: Hydrogen can be obtained by anaerobic fermentation of sewage sludge. Therefore, in this paper the effects of thermally pretreated temperatures on hydrogen production from sewage sludge were investigated under different pre-treatment conditions. In the thermal pretreatment, some microbial matters of sludge were converted into soluble matters from insoluble ones. As a result, the suspended solid(SS) and volatile suspended solid(VSS) of sludge decreased and the concentration of soluble COD(SCOD) increased, including soluble carbohydrates and proteins. The experimental results showed that all of those pretreated sludge could produce hydrogen by anaerobic fermentation and the hydrogen yields under the temperatures of 121°C; and 50°C were 12.23 ml/g VS(most) and 1.17 ml/g VS (least), respectively. It illuminated that the hydrogen yield of sludge was affected by the thermally pretreated temperatures. Additionally, the endurance of high hydrogen yield depended on the translation of microbial matters and inhibition of methanogens in the sludge. The temperatures of 100°C and 121°C (treated time, 30 min) could kill or inhibit completely the methanogens while the others could not. To produce hydrogen and save energy, 100°C was chosen as the optimal temperature for thermal pretreatment. The composition changes in liquid phase in the fermentation process were also discussed. The SCOD of sludge increased, which was affected by the pretreatment temperature. The production of volatile fatty acids in the anaerobic fermentation increased with the pretreatment temperature.

Keywords: anaerobic fermentation, hydrogen production, sewage sludge, thermally pretreated temperature

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 6-12, 2006