Hydrogen production from organic waste

The extraction of pure hydrogen from the fermentation of household waste by a mixed anaerobic bacterial flora is demonstrated. Simulated household was te (600 g) was fermented in a bioreactor, which was continuously sparged wi th nitrogen (30 ml/min) fed in from the bottom. The gas stream from the bio rector passes through a sulphide trap (ZnO) and then through a heated palla dium-silver membrane reactor to separate hydrogen from the gas stream. In t his way, waste remediation and biological hydrogen production is combined i n a process where a large proportion of the hydrogen produced can be collec ted, free of other gaseous species from the fermentation. (C) 2001 Internat ional Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.