Hydrogen generation from food waste anaerobic dark fermentation is identified as a promising strategy for resource recovery. In this work, an innovative strategy of using potassium ferrate (PF), a strong oxidant, to promote anaerobic dark fermentation of food waste to produce hydrogen has been reported. The experimental results revealed that PF enhanced the hydrogen production from food waste, the maximal hydrogen yield was 173.5 mL/g, and the optimal PF dosage was 0.4 g/g total suspended solids. PF shortened the lag phase for hydrogen generation from 120 to 96 h. Mechanisms investigation revealed that PF accelerated the disintegration of organic compounds and increased the soluble organic matter in the liquid phase. The strong oxidation of PF inhibited the processes of hydrolysis, acidification, acetogenesis, homoacetogenesis, and methanogenesis by using synthetic wastewater in the fermentation process. The inhibition of PF on these processes was further verified by the enzyme activity analysis. Economic analysis indicated that 0.1 g/g PF was the optimal dosage. PF treatment is a promising strategy to enhance the production of hydrogen from food waste dark fermentation.
Keywords: Anaerobic fermentation; Disintegration; Economic analysis; Enzyme activity; Hydrolysis; Lag phase.