Bio Hydrogen Production from Pharmaceutical Waste Water Treatment by a Suspended Growth Reactor Using Environmental Anaerobic Technology

Abstract

Hydrogen (H2) is considered as the future fuel. The present work on “Bio Hydrogen Production from Pharmaceutical Waste Water Treatment by a Suspended Growth Reactor Using Environmental Anaerobic Technology. This is an appreciated approach at wealth generation through value addition to wastes. The optimization process included the selection of ideal co-substrate (sucrose) and nitrogen source (DAP) to examine the feasibility of hydrogen production from industrial effluent in a 50%-50% mixture of the complex feed and the industrial effluent. Hydrogen gas produced in the reactor is estimated using a gas sensor. This equipment is a generic gas-monitoring instrument with microprocessor based electronics interfacing with std. 4 to 20 mA alarm/control systems. The inlet pH (feed) was maintained at 6 while the outlet pH monitored after detention time showed a slight variation (4 to 5.4) throughout the reaction periods .The variation in Volatile fatty acids (VFA) was evident up to 21 day of operation, and thereafter stabilized in and around 2600 mg/l indicating the steady state condition of the reactor. The alkalinity values variation indicated an increase in system response to acidogenic fermentation process. The variation of COD reduction (%) indicates multitude of variations as the experiment proceeds indicating perfect degradation of the organic substrate present in the culture aimed towards hydrogen production.VFA evaluation through High power liquid chromatography (HPLC) indicated presence of acetic acid within the system which could be the possible substrate for hydrogen production. During sequencing phase operation, the hydrogen values given by the experimental run with the effluent as the main substrate showed greater production rate (0.81 mmol/hr)  when compared to that produced in the previous  cases using only synthetic (0.086 mmol/hr) and complex feeds (0.29 mmol/hr ) respectively. The described process has the dual benefit of combined H2 production and wastewater treatment in an economical, effective and sustainable way.