February 2004
Performance of an Innovative Two-Stage Process Converting Food Waste to Hydrogen and Methane
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Sun-Kee Han,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
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Hang-Sik Shin,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
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AbstractThis study was conducted to evaluate the performance of
an innovative two-stage process, BIOCELL, that was developed
to produce hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4)
from food waste on the basis of phase separation, reactor
rotation mode, and sequential batch technique. The
BIOCELL process consisted of four leaching-bed reactors
for H2 recovery and post-treatment and a UASB reactor for
CH4 recovery. The leaching-bed reactors were operated in
a rotation mode with a 2-day interval between degradation
stages. The sequential batch technique was useful to
optimize environmental conditions during H2 fermentation.
The BIOCELL process demonstrated that, at the high
volatile solids (VS) loading rate of 11.9 kg/m3-day, it could
remove 72.5% of VS and convert VSremoved to H2 (28.2%)
and CH4 (69.9%) on a chemical oxygen demand (COD)
basis in 8 days. H2 gas production rate was 3.63 m3/m3-day,
while CH4 gas production rate was 1.75 m3/m3-day. The
yield values of H2 and CH4 were 0.31 and 0.21 m3/kg
VSadded, respectively. Moreover, the output from the posttreatment
could be used as a soil amendment. The
BIOCELL process proved to be stable, reliable, and effective
in resource recovery as well as waste stabilization.
ImplicationsBecause food waste is a major burden to the environment,
the landfill of food waste will be prohibited in 2005. Thus,
research on the recycling technology of this waste is a
major field of waste management in Korea. The innovative
two-stage process, BIOCELL, is an ideal method for treating
food waste. The BIOCELL process was developed to
convert food waste to H2 and CH4 because H2 recovery
could improve the economic feasibility of waste treatment.
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