Influence of key operational parameters on biohydrogen production from fruit and vegetable waste via lactate-driven dark fermentation

Biohydrogen production by lactate-driven dark fermentation of real organic wastes derived from solid waste treatment plants

This study evaluated the hydrogen production potential through lactate-driven dark fermentation (LD-DF) of organic wastes from solid waste treatment plants, including the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), mixed sewage sludge, and two OFMSW leachates. In initial batch fermentations, only OFMSW supported a significant hydrogen yield (70.1 ± 7.7 NmL-H2/g-VS added) among the tested feedstocks. Lactate acted as an important hydrogen precursor, requiring the presence of carbohydrates for sequential two-step lactate-type fermentation. The impact of operational pH (5.5-6.5) and initial total solids (TS) concentration (5-12.5 % w/w) was also evaluated using OFMSW as substrate, obtaining hydrogen yields ranging from 6.6 to 55.9 NmL-H2/g-VSadded. The highest yield occurred at 6.5 pH and 7.5 % TS. The LD-DF pathway was indicated to be present under diverse pH and TS conditions, supported by employing a specialized microbial consortium capable of performing LD-DF, along with the observed changes in lactate levels during fermentation.

Effect of zero-valent iron nanoparticles on taxonomic composition and hydrogen production from kitchen waste

This study investigated the effects of varying zero-valent iron (ZVI) (0 to 5,000 mg/L) on fermentative hydrogen (H2) production, metabolic pattern, and taxonomic profile by using kitchen waste as substrate. The study demonstrated that the supplementation of 500 mg ZVI/L resulted in the highest H2 yield (219.68 ± 11.19 mL H2/g-volatile solids (VS)added), which was 19% higher than the control. The metabolic pattern analysis showed that acetic and butyric acid production primarily drove the H2 production. The taxonomic analysis further revealed that Firmicutes (relative abundance (RA): 80-96%) and Clostridium sensu stricto 1 (RA: 68-88%) were the dominant phyla and genera, respectively, during the exponential gas production phase, supporting the observation of accumulation of acetic and butyric acids. These findings suggest that supplementation of ZVI can enhance H2 production from organic waste and significantly influence the metabolic pattern and taxonomic profile, including the metalloenzymes.

Continuous lactate-driven dark fermentation of restaurant food waste: Process characterization and new insights on transient feast/famine perturbations

The effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the continuous lactate-driven dark fermentation (LD-DF) of food waste (FW) was investigated. The robustness of the bioprocess against feast/famine perturbations was also explored. The stepwise HRT decrease from 24 to 16 and 12 h in a continuously stirred tank fermenter fed with simulated restaurant FW impacted on hydrogen production rate (HPR). The optimal HRT of 16 h supported a HPR of 4.2 L H₂/L-d. Feast/famine perturbations caused by 12-h feeding interruptions led to a remarkable peak in HPR up to 19.2 L H₂/L-d, albeit the process became stable at 4.3 L H₂/L-d following perturbation. The occurrence of LD-DF throughout the operation was endorsed by metabolites analysis. Particularly, hydrogen production positively correlated with lactate consumption and butyrate production. Overall, the FW LD-DF process was highly sensitive but resilient against transient feast/famine perturbations, supporting high-rate HPRs under optimal HRTs.

Biochemical hydrogen potential assay for predicting the patterns of the kinetics of semi-continuous dark fermentation

The performance and kinetics response of thermophilic semi-continuous dark fermentation (DF) of simulated complex carbohydrate-rich waste was investigated at various hydraulic retention times (HRT) (2, 2.5, and 3 d) and compared with data obtained from biochemical hydrogen potential assay (BHP). A culture of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum was used as the inoculum and dominated both in BHP and semi-continuous reactor. Both the modified Gompertz and first-order models described the DF kinetics well (R² = 0.97-1.00). HRT of 2.5 d was found to be optimal in terms of maximum hydrogen production rate and hydrogen potential, which were 3.97 and 1.26 times higher, respectively, than in BHP. The hydrolysis constant was highest at HRT of 3 d and was closest to the value obtained in the BHP. Overall, BHP has been shown to be a useful tool for predicting H₂ potential and the hydrolysis constant, while the maximum H₂ production rate is greatly underestimated.

Metagenomic insights into the inhibitory mechanisms of Cu on fermentative hydrogen production

Cu is widely present in the feedstocks of dark fermentation, which can inhibit H₂ production efficiency of the process. However, current understanding on the inhibitory mechanisms of Cu, especially the microbiological mechanism, is still lacking. This study investigated the inhibitory mechanisms of Cu²⁺ on fermentative hydrogen production by metagenomics sequencing. Results showed that the exposure to Cu²⁺ reduced the abundances of high-yielding hydrogen-producing genera (e.g. Clostridium sensu stricto), and remarkably down-regulated the genes involved in substrate membrane transport (e.g., gtsA, gtsB and gtsC), glycolysis (e.g. PK, ppgK and pgi-pmi), and hydrogen formation (e.g. pflA, fdoG, por and E1.12.7.2), leading to significant inhibition on the process performances. The H₂ yield was reduced from 1.49 mol H₂/mol-glucose to 0.59 and 0.05 mol H₂/mol-glucose upon exposure to 500 and 1000 mg/L of Cu²⁺, respectively. High concentrations of Cu²⁺ also reduced the rate of H₂ production and prolonged the H₂-producing lag phase.

Estimating the potential of biohydrogen production and carbon neutralization contribution from crop straw

In order to achieve the carbon neutrality goal set by Chinese government, the potential contribution of hydrogen production from crop residues by microbial fermentation technology and Greenhouse gas (GHGs) reduction have been studied. Firstly, the annual yield of crop straw was estimated according to crop yield and grass grain ratio, and then the grey model GM (1, 1) was applied to predict the crop residues resources available for hydrogen production in various provinces in China in 2021. The results showed that the maximum resource of straw being available for hydrogen production is about 4.54 × 10⁸ t, corresponding to 1.31 × 10¹¹ m³ of hydrogen, the energy carried by the obtained hydrogen was 73 % and 1.15 times than the energy of national civil natural gas consumption and energy of transportation gasoline consumption, respectively. The potential reduction of greenhouse gas emission was 2.42 × 10⁸ t/a CO₂-eq, representing 2.4 % of GHGs emissions.

Unlocking the high-rate continuous performance of fermentative hydrogen bioproduction from fruit and vegetable residues by modulating hydraulic retention time

Harnessing fruit-vegetable waste (FVW) as a resource to produce hydrogen via dark fermentation (DF) embraces the circular economy concept. However, there is still a need to upgrade continuous FVW-DF bioprocessing to enhance hydrogen production rates (HPR). This study aims to investigate the influence of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the DF of FVW by mixed culture. A stirred tank reactor under continuous mesophilic conditions was operated for 47 days with HRT stepwise reductions from 24 to 6 h, leading to organic loading rates between 47 and 188 g volatile solids (VS)/L-d. The optimum HRT of 9 h resulted in an unprecedented HPR from FVW of 11.8 NL/L-d, with a hydrogen yield of 95.6 NmL/g VS fed. Based on an overarching inspection of hydrogen production in conjunction with organic acids and carbohydrates analyses, it was hypothesized that the high FVW-to-biohydrogen conversion rate achieved was powered by lactate metabolism.