Application of in-situ H2-assisted biogas upgrading in high-rate anaerobic wastewater treatment

Heng Xu; Kaijun Wang; Xiaoqian Zhang; Hui Gong; Yu Xia; Dawn E Holmes

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122598

Application of in-situ H₂-assisted biogas upgrading in high-rate anaerobic wastewater treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Mar:299:122598. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122598. Epub 2019 Dec 12.

Authors

Heng Xu¹, Kaijun Wang², Xiaoqian Zhang³, Hui Gong⁴, Yu Xia⁵, Dawn E Holmes⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: wkj@tsinghua.edu.cn.
³ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Center for Rural Environmental Protection, Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing 100012, China.
⁴ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁵ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China.
⁶ Department of Physical and Biological Sciences, Western New England University, Springfield, MA 01119, USA.

PMID: 31869628
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122598

Abstract

The H₂-assisted biogas upgrading approach has recently attracted much interest as a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative to commonly used ex-situ/ physiochemical biogas upgrading techniques. However, most studies conducted to date have been limited to anaerobic solid-waste treatment characterized by flocculant sludge and low organic loading rates (OLR). In an attempt to expand its application to high-rate anaerobic wastewater treatment, an innovative two-stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor system was employed using anaerobic granular sludge. We found that the CH₄ content of product gas was consistently >90% and that H₂ and CO₂ concentrations stayed below 5%, even when OLR was increased from 1 to 5 g L^-1 d^-1 and H₂ feeding rates were increased from 0.13 to 0.63 g L^-1 d^-1. We were also able to show that CO (5-10%) in H₂-rich syngas didn't inhibit methanogenesis or had significant impact on microbial community structure, suggesting that H₂-assisted biogas upgrading with H₂-rich syngas is feasible.

Keywords: Anaerobic granular sludge (AGS); Anaerobic wastewater treatment; Biogas upgrading; Hydrogen (H(2)); Up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB).

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels*
Bioreactors
Methane
Sewage
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater*

Substances

Biofuels
Sewage
Waste Water
Methane