title: Evaluation of aeration pretreatment to prepare an inoculum for the two-stage hydrogen and methane production process.
abstract: This study evaluates the effect of aeration pretreatment to prepare an inoculum for H₂ and CH₄ production in a two-stage process. Moreover, the biochemical hydrogen potential and biochemical methane potential of waste from the food industry in a two-stage process was assessed. The results confirmed the possibility of using an aerobic stress for selecting a hydrogen-producing inoculum. The inoculum was fairly stable since no hydrogenotrophic-methanogenic activity was observed in 25 days. The yields measured using glucose as substrate were of approximately 160 and 280 N mL(H₂) g(COD⁻¹) of glucose for hydrogen and methane, respectively, which are in agreement with other studies using heat-shock for the pretreatment of the inoculum. When waste of the food industry (wheat milling) was used as substrate, a lower H₂ yield was achieved by the aerobically-pretreated inoculum if compared to heat-shock; however, when combined with methane production in a two-stage process, much higher CH₄ yield was achieved.
authors.affiliation: Acqua & Sole s.r.l., Manzola Fornace, Corteolona, PV, Italy; ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, Water Management Section, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.affiliation: ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, Water Management Section, Bologna, Italy; Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sarli
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lavagnolo
authors.affiliation: ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, Water Management Section, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.spagni@enea.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spagni
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D005735:Garbage; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D006859:Hydrogen; D005947:Glucose; D008697:Methane
keywords: Biological hydrogen production; Dark fermentation; Food waste; Methane; Wheat