(48e) Evaluation of Green Hydrogen Production from Enterobacter Sp. Using Waste Effluents from Biodiesel | AIChE

(48e) Evaluation of Green Hydrogen Production from Enterobacter Sp. Using Waste Effluents from Biodiesel

The demand and production of biodiesel for energy generation has been increasing, being one of the renewable sources, using resources such as biomass. In addition, it is a raw material with high availability and promotes the reduction of greenhouse gases to the planet. However, its production generates waste accumulation, and procreating an adverse effect to the objective: to be a fuel with less environmental impact, considering an adequate life cycle.
Residual effluents from biodiesel, composed of a large amount of crude glycerol, which, with improper disposal, cause environmental, economic, and social problems. However, combined with fermentation, it can generate the production of monomers, energy and other biofuels, such as biohydrogen. Hydrogen is considered a clean, highly reactive fuel and provides a higher value-added destination for biodiesel production effluents.
The development of technologies for the biological production of hydrogen is very promising. The processes for obtaining hydrogen by microbial means have been gaining prominence, due to the possibility of using renewable energy sources, as well as the reuse of waste materials, thus knowing the amount of by-products stored in energy sources. Furthermore, microorganisms such as Enterobacter sp. are capable of converting glycerol into a series of metabolites for the production of biohydrogen. This process is possible, because this bacterium presents characteristics such as anaerobiosis and the possibility of co-production of biogas with hydrogen. According to Correia et al, (2009) the production by biological route contributes with 1% of the total production. However, with the development of increasingly emerging technologies, this percentage rises, thus promoting more efficient and sustainable production.
Thus, the present work aims to evaluate the technical viability of biohydrogen production from Biodiesel effluents making use of computer simulation using SuperPro Designer®, software that allows planning, programming and minimizing production bottlenecks to carry out the modeling of the processes, in addition to assisting in the cost analysis of the processes. The data used were obtained from bibliographic consultation, equipment companies and professionals in the area.
The results from the behavior of the reactions, comparison of the flowcharts obtained with data in the literature and economic analysis of the process, indicate that the bioconversion of effluents from biodiesel, using Enterobacter sp. have advantages and technical feasibility of hydrogen production.