Fermentative hydrogen production from low-value substrates.

Hydrogen is a promising energy source that is believed to replace the conventional energy sources e.g. fossil fuels over years. Hydrogen production methods can be divided into conventional production methods which depend mainly on fossil fuels and alternative production methods including electrolysis of water, biophotolysis and fermentation hydrogen production from organic waste materials. Compared to the conventional methods, the alternative hydrogen production methods are less energy intensive and negative-value substrates i.e. waste materials can be used to produce hydrogen. Among the alternative methods, fermentation process including dark and photo-fermentation has gained more attention because these processes are simple, waste materials can be utilized, and high hydrogen yields can be achieved. The fermentation process is affected by several parameters such as type of inoculum, pH, temperature, substrate type and concentration, hydraulic retention time, etc. In order to achieve optimum hydrogen yields and maximum substrate degradation, the operating conditions of the fermentation process must be optimized. In this review, two routes for biohydrogen production as dark and photo-fermentation are discussed. Dark/photo-fermentation technology is a new approach that can be used to increase the hydrogen yield and improve the energy recovery from organic wastes.

Two-stage anaerobic fermentation process for bio-hydrogen and bio-methane production from pre-treated organic wastes.

In this study, the effect of pre-treatments including alkaline, acid and hydrogen peroxide on continuous hydrogen and methane production was investigated. Two different substrates as potatoes and bean wastes were used. Pre-treatment showed positive effect on bio-hydrogen and bio-methane production; higher bio-hydrogen and bio-methane production results using pre-treated samples than the control bioreactors (without pre-treatment), were recorded. In case of potatoes wastes, the hydrogen yield ranged between 126.4 and 252.7 mL-H2/g-TVS using pre-treated samples compared to 58.7 mL-H2/g-TVS observed in the reference test. Pre-treated bean wastes showed hydrogen yield of 93.0-152.1 mL-H2/g-TVS higher than 53.3 mL-H2/g-TVS measured in the control test. In the second stage, average methane yield results of 322.9-507.1 and 284.3-462.6 mL-CH4/g-TVS higher than 198.6 and 124.3 mL-CH4/g-TVS measured for potatoes and bean wastes control bioreactors, respectively. The best results were observed using H2O2 pre-treatment. The energy production efficiency was improved by combining H2 and CH4 bioreactors.

Investigation of biomethylation of arsenic and tellurium during composting.

Though the process of composting features a high microbiological activity, its potential to methylate metals and metalloids has been little investigated so far in spite of the high impact of this process on metal(loid) toxicity and mobility. Here, we studied the biotransformation of arsenic, tellurium, antimony, tin and germanium during composting. Time resolved investigation revealed a highly dynamic process during self-heated composting with markedly differing time patterns for arsenic and tellurium species. Extraordinary high concentrations of up to 150 mg kg(-1) methylated arsenic species as well as conversion rates up to 50% for arsenic and 5% for tellurium were observed. In contrast, little to no conversion was observed for antimony, tin and germanium. In addition to experiments with metal(loid) salts, composting of arsenic hyperaccumulating ferns Pteris vittata and P. cretica grown on As-amended soils was studied. Arsenic accumulated in the fronds was efficiently methylated resulting in up to 8 mg kg(-1) methylated arsenic species. Overall, these studies indicate that metal(loid)s can undergo intensive biomethylation during composting. Due to the high mobility of methylated species this process needs to be considered in organic waste treatment of metal(loid) contaminated waste materials.

Estimation of landfill emission lifespan using process oriented modeling.

Depending on the particular pollutants emitted, landfills may require service activities lasting from hundreds to thousands of years. Flexible tools allowing long-term predictions of emissions are of key importance to determine the nature and expected duration of maintenance and post-closure activities. A highly capable option represents predictions based on models and verified by experiments that are fast, flexible and allow for the comparison of various possible operation scenarios in order to find the most appropriate one. The intention of the presented work was to develop a experimentally verified multi-dimensional predictive model capable of quantifying and estimating processes taking place in landfill sites where coupled process description allows precise time and space resolution. This constitutive 2-dimensional model is based on the macromechanical theory of porous media (TPM) for a saturated thermo-elastic porous body. The model was used to simulate simultaneously occurring processes: organic phase transition, gas emissions, heat transport, and settlement behavior on a long time scale for municipal solid waste deposited in a landfill. The relationships between the properties (composition, pore structure) of a landfill and the conversion and multi-phase transport phenomena inside it were experimentally determined. In this paper, we present both the theoretical background of the model and the results of the simulations at one single point as well as in a vertical landfill cross section.