| Summary: | The effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR) on biological hydrogen production was assessed using an anaerobic fluidized bed reactor fed with cassava wastewater. The HRT of this reactor ranged from 8 to 1 h (28 to 161 kg COD/m³-d). The inoculum was obtained from a facultative pond sludge derived from swine wastewater treatment. The effluent pH was approximately 5.00, while the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) measured 4000 mg COD/L. The hydrogen yield production increased from 0.13 to 1.91 mol H2/mol glucose as the HRT decreased from 8 to 2 h. The hydrogen production rate significantly increased from 0.20 to 2.04 L/h/L when the HRT decreased from 8 to 1 h. The main soluble metabolites were ethanol (1.87-100%), acetic acid (0.00-84.80%), butyric acid (0.00-66.78%) and propionic acid (0.00-50.14%). Overall, we conclude that the best hydrogen yield production was obtained at an HRT of 2 h.
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