Kinetic analysis of biohydrogen production from anaerobically treated POME in bioreactor under optimized condition

In this study, the biohydrogen production from POME was performed under mesophillic conditions by mixed culture in a 2 L bioreactor using the optimized conditions obtained previously. The effect of controlling pH initially or throughout the fermentation was also examined. The fermentation performance was monitored by comparing P, Rm, λ, and Ps in both systems. In this present study, the reactor system showed higher hydrogen production potential values with the utilization of pH control. Hydrogen production potential was increased two folds when the reactor system was equipped with pH control rather than just fixed the initial pH at 5.8. The biohydrogen production under controlled pH occurred after 7 h fermentation resulting in maximum Ps and Rm of 1.32 L/L POME and 0.144 L/L.h, respectively.

► We examine mesophillic biohydrogen production from treated POME in 2 L bioreactor.
► pH 5.8 and substrate conc. of 80 g/L was based on statistical optimization by RSM.
► Under controlled system, max Ps and Rm of 1.32 L/L POME and 0.144 L/L.h were obtained after 7 h.
► pH control system results into 2-fold increment of biohydrogen production potential.
► The study demonstrates the potential of POME & POME sludge for biohydrogen production.