Technologies are needed that simultaneously treat wastes and produce clean energy. A multilayer membrane system was developed to treat organic-laden wastewater and produce hydrogen (H2). Hollow fiber membranes were coated with encapsulated acetogenic bacteria to simultaneously produce and capture H2 from waste feedstocks. An outer layer protected the bacteria and improved H2 capture. The system successfully generated hydrogen from synthetic wastewater, dairy production wastewater, and sugar beet processing wastewater (chemical oxygen demand 6-10 g/L). Factors affecting membrane performance included the bacterial encapuslation method (casting versus electrosupun fibers versus direct attachment to the hollow fibers), bacterial loading, the material used for the outer layer, and hydraulic residence time of the reactor. Over 50 mL H2 per g hexose and nearly &gt;90% capture efficiency were possible with optimized parameters. The composite membrane system is a potential means to extract high quality energy from wastewater.

Composite biologically active membrane system for simultaneous wastewater treatment and energy production

251st National Meeting (2016)

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