Hydrogen and Methane Production from Food Residue Biomass Product (FORBI)

This study concerns the production of hydrogen and methane from a Food Residue Biomass (FORBI) product [1], 11 generated from pre-sorted HFW in a CSTR and in a PABR respectively. FORBI is generated by drying and shredding 12 the fermentable fraction of household food waste collected door-to-door in the Municipality of Halandri, Greece. 13 Hydrogen production from FORBI through anaerobic fermentation under acidogenic mesophilic conditions was 14 carried out using a 4L CSTR, operated at 12 h HRT under an organic loading of 15 g TS·L-1. The H2-CSTR was 15 operated for 40 days. During the operation of H2-CSTR the production of biogas reached up to 0,1026 L biogas·g FORBI-1 16 and the percentage of hydrogen in the gas up to 48,2 %. 17 The conversion of FORBI into methane was carried out through the operation of a 77L PABR operated under 18 mesophilic methanogenic conditions at various operating parameters (OLR, HRT, T). Two different approaches were 19 adopted for the pre-treatment of the feedstock. For the two first phases of the experimental procedure, a liquid 20 extraction step was carried out before feeding the bioreactor with the separated liquid fraction, while in the subsequent 21 three phases, a whole suspension of FORBI was used as feed. The mean biogas production rate was 0,158±0,02 22 Lbiogas·gFORBI-1 and the mean methane percentage in the biogas was 67,5±2,1%, in the first two phases. The mean biogas 23 production rate was 0,519±0,03 Lbiogas·gFORBI-1 and the mean methane percentage in the biogas was 66±2,8%, when a 24 whole suspension of FORBI was fed to the PABR