Simultaneous bio‐electricity and bio‐hydrogen production in a continuous flow single microbial electrochemical reactor

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the simultaneous production of bio‐electricity and bio‐hydrogen using a novel continuous flow single chamber hydrogen‐producing microbial electrochemical reactor (sMER‐H2). The inocula tested were: raw municipal wastewater (I 1), sporulated Gram‐positive bacteria (I 2), and a mixture of anaerobic granular sludge with sediments thermally pretreated (I 3). The best performance for bioelectrochemical and simultaneous hydrogen production occurred when the inoculum I 3 was tested. The maximum voltage generated with an external resistance of 1000 Ω was 671 mV. The maximum power density and volumetric density obtained in the sMER‐H2 was 46 mW/m2 and 6.4 W/m3, respectively. The maximum bio‐hydrogen production rate was 5.2 L H2/L·d., reaching up to 2.39 mol H2/mol sucrose. Using this new configuration of microbial fuel cell, high bio‐electricity and high bio‐hydrogen production were simultaneously generated. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38: 297–304, 2019