Sustainable production of hydrogen and chemical commodities from biodiesel waste crude glycerol and cellulose by biological and catalytic processes

Identifier:  TDX:1314

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX1314

Authors:  Maru, Biniam Taddele

Abstract:
Hydrogen has a significant potential as clean and ‘green’ fuel of the future. Accordingly, this thesis investigated how to generate a sustainable production of hydrogen and other chemical commodities through study of: 1) Fermentative behavior of anaerobichydrogen producing microorganisms from pure glycerol and biodiesel waste crude glycerol; 2) The advantage of using a solid supportimmobilisationof microorganisms 3) The integration of the dark fermentative system with the catalytic hydrolysis of cellulose. The findings were: i) Newly isolated bacteria Enterobacter spH1 and Citrobacterfreundii H3 can use glycerol and produce optimal levels of H2 ii) The hyperthermophileThermotogamaritima DSM 3109 can grow on both pure and crude glycerol; iii) Co-culture (1:1) of Enterobacter spH1 and E. coli CECT432is able to produce significant amount H2 from crude glycerol; iv) Microorganisms immobilisation on supports and addition of ironspecies enhance the glycerol conversion and H2 production; v) Enterobacter spH1 and Citrobacterfreundii H3 were able to produce H2 of water soluble fractionfrom the catalytic hydrolysis of cellulose by ZrO2 material. These new findings improve our understanding of hydrogen production, and hopefully lead to sustainable production from crude glycerol and cellulose in the future.