Fermentative hydrogen and methane production from microalgal biomass (Chlorella vulgaris) in a two-stage combined process

Journal
Applied energy  
Volume
132
Start Page
108
End Page
117
Citation
Applied Energy (132): 108-117 (2014)
Publisher DOI
10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.07.003
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84904581523
Publisher
Elsevier Science
This study investigated the hydrogen fermentation in a two-stage combined fermentation process (combination of dark fermentation for hydrogen (H2) production from microalgae and methane (CH4) fermentation from residues following H2 production process). Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris culture was used as a substrate. The hydrogen production from C. vulgaris ranges 1.75±1.50-19±2.94ml H2 g-VS-1 at different substrate dosages without enzymatic pre-treatment. A seven-fold increase in H2 production yields (19±2.94-135±3.11ml H2 g-VS-1) was observed with enzymatic pre-treatment (Onozuka R-10 and Macerozyme R-10) of the microalgae. The results of the CH4 fermentation show that the methane yields could be increased from 245±2.46 to 414±2.45ml CH4 g-VS-1 by using enzymatic pretreatment. In addition, the yield of the CH4 fermentation (14.86kJ/g-VS) has approximately the same order of magnitude in comparison to the two-stage combined fermentation process (14.46kJ/g-VS) in terms of energy production. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Subjects
Biohydrogen
Biomethane
Dark fermentation
Enzymatic pre-treatment
Microalgae (C. vulgaris)
DDC Class
500: Naturwissenschaften
570: Biowissenschaften, Biologie
600: Technik
620: Ingenieurwissenschaften