Anaerobic treatment of brewary wastewater with simultaneous hydrogen production

Processes of brewery wastewater treatment with sequential use of the fermentative and bioelectrochemical methods have been investigated. A two-stage fermentation increases the rate of substrate utilization and hydrogen production. The water treatment efficiency in terms of COD in the first and second fermenters amounts to 55–65% and 65–72%, respectively. The hydrogen concentration in biogas can reach 65%. The organic acids produced in anaerobic fermentation process represent a substrate for exoelectrogenic microorganisms of bioelectrochemical fuel cell, where the secondary wastewater treatment takes place for achieving COD values of 200–400 mg/dm³. The combination of the fermentative and bioelectrochemical processes of hydrogen production makes it possible to increase its yield by a factor of 2–4 and reach the level of 7–9 moles of H₂ per 1 mole of glucose.