A New Development in Biological Process for Wastewater Treatment to Produce Renewable Fuel

Problem statement: Hydrogen is a clean energy source. Bio-conversion of biomass to generate hydrogen has been achieved using anaerobic fermentation of some well-defined materials, in wastewater. No data available on hydrogen yielded from wastewater using inoculum extracted from Iraqi municipal wastewater treatment plant. Approach: This study investigated the effects of substrate concentration, initial pH and process temperature on biohydrogen production from surgery wastewater using anaerobic batch reactor. Batch tests are carried out in a 2.0 L batch reactor under different temperatures of 34, 36, 38and 40°C, various initial pH of 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5 and substrate concentrations of 5, 10 and 15%. The raw seed was compost sludge obtained from municipal wastewater treatment plant in Baghdad (Al-Restomia plant). The volume of evolved gas was measured at room temperature by the water displacement method. Results: The maximum hydrogen production 160 mL L-1 is obtained at an optimum temperature of 38 °C, optimum pH of 5.5 and substrate concentration 15%. Conclusion: The results indicated that the use of compost of Al-Restomia plant as a seed in anaerobic fermentation process has given excellent biogas production under applied conditions.