Integrated pre-treatment stage of biosorbent - sonication for mixed brewery and restaurant effluents to enhance the photo-fermentative hydrogen production

In this study an integrated pre-treatment stage of waste banana peel biosorbent and sonication was investigated to qualify a mixture of brewery (BE) and restaurant (RE) effluents for photo fermentative hydrogen production without using standard medium. Different blending ratios of brewery and restaurant effluents and different sonication amplitudes (30, 60, and 90%) and sonication time (15, 25, 35, and 45 min) were investigated. The experimental results demonstrated that applying the proposed integrated pre-treatment (2 g L-1 waste banana peel biosorbent and 35 min sonication at 60% amplitude) for a mixture of 70% RE and 30% BE enhanced the cumulative biohydrogen production to 110 +/- 4 mL (144% enhanced), while applying single pre-treatment stage (2 g L-1 banana peels waste biosorbent) enhanced the cumulative biohydrogen production to 83 mL (84% enhanced). Furthermore, more than 46% of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal was achieved during photo-fermentative hydrogen production process. The results also demonstrated that the proposed integrated pre-treatment stage is a promising technique not only for enhancing the biohydrogen production but also contributes in the treatment of the wastewater by reducing the COD.

Automated summary

This study investigated the impact of an integrated pre-treatment of waste banana peel biosorbent and sonication on photo fermentative hydrogen production using a mixture of brewery and restaurant effluents. The results showed that the proposed pre-treatment not only enhanced biohydrogen production, but also contributed to reducing chemical oxygen demand in wastewater.