Effect of pH and seed microorganisms on fermentative hydrogen production from food waste

CAPPAI, GIOVANNA SALVATORICA;DE GIOANNIS, GIORGIA;Giordano G.;Massi E.;MUNTONI, ALDO;Polettini A.;Pomi R.

2012-01-01

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Abstract

Batch fermentation tests were performed on food waste with the aim of: 1) evaluating the influence of pH on biological H2 production, 2) comparing the H2 production yield with or without inoculum addition, 3) evaluating the effect of inoculum pre-treatment on process kinetics and overall H2 production. The best performance was always observed at pH = 6.5 irrespective of whether or not an inoculum was added to food waste and this was thermally conditioned before the experiments. H2 production from food waste was found to be feasible even without inoculum addition, although thermal pre-treatment of the inoculum led to a notable increase in the maximum production yield and to a considerable reduction in the lag phase duration