Sewage sludge addition to food waste synergistically enhances hydrogen fermentation performance

The effect of sewage sludge (SWS) addition on the H2 fermentation of food waste (FW) was investigated. It was found that a slight addition of SWS (10:1 = FW:SWS on a COD basis) significantly enhanced the H2 fermentation performance, not only increasing the total amount of H2 produced but accelerating the whole reaction, shortening the lag period, and increasing the H2 production rate. Substrate degradation and microbial germination were also facilitated by SWS addition. A simple calculation reveals that the increased amount of H2 production derived mostly from FW, indicating that SWS addition synergistically enhanced H2 fermentation performance. This was attributed to the existence of Fe and Ca at much higher concentrations in the SWS compared to the FW. The batch process treating a mixture of FW and SWS was repeated and showed an average H2 yield of 2.11 ± 0.20 mol H2/mol hexoseadded, which was 13% higher than that of FW treated alone.

► Sewage sludge addition to food waste synergistically enhanced the H2 fermentation.
► Not only the amount of H2 produced increased but also the reaction was accelerated.
► This was attributed to Fe and Ca at high concentration in sewage sludge.