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Characterization of a hydrogen‐producing granular sludge
Author(s) -
Fang Herbert H. P.,
Liu Hong,
Zhang Tong
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.10174
Subject(s) - granule (geology) , sucrose , chemistry , propionate , clostridium , effluent , hydrogen production , acidogenesis , biohydrogen , food science , hydrogen , bacteria , nuclear chemistry , methane , microbiology and biotechnology , anaerobic digestion , biology , biochemistry , waste management , organic chemistry , paleontology , genetics , engineering
This study demonstrated that hydrogen‐producing acidogenic sludge could agglutinate into granules in a well‐mixed reactor treating a synthetic sucrose‐containing wastewater at 26°C, pH 5.5, with 6 h of hydraulic retention. A typical matured granule is 1.6 mm in diameter, 1.038 g/mL in density, 11% in ash content, and over 50 m/h in settling velocity. Treating a solution containing 12.15 g/L of sucrose at a volumetric loading rate of 48.6 g/(L · d), the reactor containing 20 g/L of granular sludge degraded 97% of sucrose. Effluent comprised 46% acetate and 49% butyrate and the methane‐free biogas comprised 63% hydrogen, 35% carbon dioxide, and 2% nitrogen. Hydrogen production rate was 13.0 L/(L · d), and the yield was 0.28 L/g‐sucrose. The granule had multiple cracks on the surface and comprised two morphological types of bacteria: fusiform bacilli and a spore‐forming bacterium. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 69.1% of the clones were affiliated with four Clostridium species in the family Clostridiaceae, and 13.5% with Sporolactobacillus racemicus in the Bacillus/Staphylococcus group. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 78: 44–52, 2002; DOI 10.1002/bit.10174