%0 Journal Article
%T Biological Hydrogen Production from Corn-Syrup Waste Using a Novel System
%A Hisham Hafez
%A George Nakhla
%A Hesham El Naggar
%J Energies
%D 2009
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/en20200445
%X The reported patent-pending system comprises a novel biohydrogen reactor with a gravity settler for decoupling of SRT from HRT. The biohydrogenator was operated for 100 days at 37 ¡ãC, hydraulic retention time 8 h and solids retention time ranging from 2.2¨C2.5 days. The feed was a corn-syrup waste generated as a byproduct from an industrial facility for bioethanol production located in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The system was initially started up with a synthetic feed containing glucose at concentration of 8 g/L and other essential inorganics. Anaerobicaly-digested sludge from the St. Mary¡¯s wastewater treatment plant (St. Mary, Ontario, Canada) was used as the seed, and was heat treated at 70 ¡ãC for 30 min to inhibit methanogens. After 10 days, when the hydrogen production was steady, the corn-syrup waste was introduced to the system. Glucose was the main constituent in the corn-syrup; its concentration was varied over a period of 90 days from 8 to 25 g/L. The change in glucose concentration was used to study the impact of variable organic loading on the stability of hydrogen production in the biohydrogenator. Hydrogen production rate increased from 10 L H 2/L¡¤d to 34 L H 2/L¡¤d with the increase of organic loading rate (OLR) from 26 to 81 gCOD/L¡¤d, while a maximum hydrogen yield of 430 mL H 2/gCOD was achieved in the system with an overall average of 385 mL H 2/gCOD.
%K biohydrogenator
%K corn-syrup
%K organic loading rate
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/2/2/445