Development of a unique integrated bioreactor for simultaneous desalination and bioenergy and biohydrogen production

[Display omitted] •A unique design of electro bio-membrane reactor for bioH2 and bioenergy production.•A simultaneous desalination, H2 production, and organic matter removal were investigated.•The highest bioH2 yield of 40.2 mL/g-biomass was achieved at pH 5.•Maximum power density value was 2819.4 mA/m2 at pH 5.5 and 1 M of KOH solution.•The highest organic matter removal efficiency was 72.2% under improved conditions. In the wastewater treatment challenge, it is really essential to develop integrated systems in reducing greenhouse gases, producing green energy and achieving sustainable development. In this regard, an integrated electro-biomembrane reactor was developed and performed in this study for simultaneous biohydrogen (bioH2) production from energetic poplar leaves using dark fermentation (DF) process, conventional H2 production, bioenergy production in the DF process, and saline water desalination in a single system. The results of this study showed that pH was the main controlling parameter in bioH2 production, and the superior production of 40.2 mL/g-biomass was obtained at a pH of 5.5. The maximum current and power density values were 2861.7 mW/m2 and 2819.4 mA/m2 at pH 5.5 under improved conditions. Furthermore, the maximum conventional H2 production was found to be 1341.6 mL using 2 M of KOH solution. Overall, the results further proved that the proposed integrated system can be a sustainable and promising process for industrial applications, considering its high desalination, energy production, and conventional and biological H2 production efficiencies.