Application and environmental compliance of anaerobic sequencing batch reactors applied to hydrogen/methane bioenergy production

Abstract

Energy production from renewable resources and from processes with low energy demand has an important role in the creation of a more sustainable world. The development of anaerobic processes for wastewater treatment focused on biogas production with the potential for energy production has shown great progress in the last few years due to new projects involving reactors that are more efficient and more stable and that have lower costs of maintenance and operation. Considering this background, the aim of this review was to describe and discuss the factors that influence biomethane and biohydrogen production from several wastewaters in ASBR and AnSBBR reactors. The review was focused on the following variables: inoculum type and pre-treatment, biomass arrangement (free or immobilized cells), organic load, operation mode, cycle time, feeding time, temperature, pH, substrates (wastewaters) and kinetic studies. © 2015 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.