Hydrogen production from cassava wastewater using an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor: Effects of operational parameters, COD:N ratio, and organic acid composition

In this work, hydrogen production from cassava wastewater using anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBR) was investigated to determine the optimum number of cycles per day, chemical oxygen demand (COD) loading rate, and COD:N ratio. The system operated at a COD loading rate of 30 kg/m3d and 6 cycles per day provided maximum hydrogen production performance in terms of specific hydrogen production rate (SHPR) (388 ml H2/g VSS d or 3800 ml H2/l d) and hydrogen yield (186 ml H2/g COD removed). The effect of nitrogen supplementation was also studied by adding NH4HCO3 into the system at the COD:N ratios of 100:2.2, 100:3.3, and 100:4.4 under the COD loading rate of 30 kg/m3d and 6 cycles per day. The maximum SHPR and hydrogen yield of 524 ml H2/g VSS d (5680 ml H2/l d) and 438 ml H2/g COD removed, respectively, were obtained at the stoichiometric COD:N ratio of 100:2.2. An excess nitrogen was found to promote the productions of higher organic acids and ethanol, resulting in lowering hydrogen production efficiency.