Enhanced dark fermentative hydrogen production from waste activated sludge by combining potassium ferrate with alkaline pretreatment

Jingnan Yang; Xinyu Liu; Xuran Liu; Qiuxiang Xu; Wenjun Wang; Dongbo Wang; Guojing Yang; Qizi Fu; Zhenyu Kang; Qi Yang; Yiwen Liu; Qilin Wang; Bing-Jie Ni

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136105

Enhanced dark fermentative hydrogen production from waste activated sludge by combining potassium ferrate with alkaline pretreatment

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Mar 10:707:136105. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136105. Epub 2019 Dec 13.

Authors

Jingnan Yang¹, Xinyu Liu², Xuran Liu¹, Qiuxiang Xu¹, Wenjun Wang¹, Dongbo Wang³, Guojing Yang⁴, Qizi Fu¹, Zhenyu Kang¹, Qi Yang¹, Yiwen Liu⁵, Qilin Wang⁵, Bing-Jie Ni⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China.
² Changde City Management Center, Changde 415000, PR China.
³ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China. Electronic address: w.dongbo@yahoo.com.
⁴ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; College of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Wanli University, Ningbo 315100, PR China.
⁵ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.

PMID: 31874393
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136105

Abstract

Alkaline pretreatment was demonstrated to be effective in the enhancement of hydrogen production. However, the sludge solubilization rate of alkaline pretreatment is still limited. This study reports a new strategy of K₂FeO₄ + pH 9.5 for sludge mesophilic anaerobic fermentation. Experimental results showed that the combination of K₂FeO₄/pH 9.5 pretreatment had a greater hydrogen yield than the individual K₂FeO₄ and pH 9.5. The maximum hydrogen yield was 19.2 mL per gram volatile suspended solids (VSS) under the optimal condition (0.02 g per gram total suspended solids K₂FeO₄ + pH 9.5). Kinetic analysis showed that the highest hydrogen production potential of 19.9 mL/g VSS was obtained in the combined reactor, which well fitted the first-order kinetic model (R² = 0.9925). Besides, the fermentation type was mainly acetic and butyric in the combined reactor, which contributed to hydrogen production. Further analyses showed that the combined pretreatment reduced hydrogen sulfide yield, providing an environmentally friendly method to sludge treatment.

Keywords: Alkaline; Anaerobic fermentation; Ferrate; Hydrogen production; Waste activated sludge.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors*
Fermentation
Hydrogen
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Iron Compounds
Kinetics
Potassium Compounds
Sewage*

Substances

Iron Compounds
Potassium Compounds
Sewage
potassium ferrate
Hydrogen