Statistical optimization of operating parameters of microbial electrolysis cell treating dairy industry wastewater using quadratic model to enhance energy generation

The performance of Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is affected by several operating conditions. Therefore, in the present study, an optimization study was done to determine the working efficiency of MEC in terms of COD (chemical oxygen demand) removal, hydrogen and current generation. Optimization was carried out using a quadratic mathematical model of response surface methodology (RSM). Thirteen sets of experimental runs were performed to optimize the applied voltage and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of single chambered batch fed MEC operated with dairy industry wastewater. The operating conditions (i.e) an applied voltage of 0.8 V and HRT of 2 days that showed a maximum COD removal response was chosen for further studies. The MEC operated at optimized condition (HRT- 2 days and applied voltage- 0.8 V) showed a COD removal efficiency of 95 ± 2%, hydrogen generation of 32 ± 5 mL/L/d, Power density of 152 mW/cm² and current generation of 19 mA. The results of the study implied that RSM, with its high degree of accuracy can be a reliable tool for optimizing the process of wastewater treatment. Also, dairy industry wastewater can be considered to be a potential source to generate hydrogen and energy through MEC at short HRT.     

Thermal shock response behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide matrix composites prepared by chemical vapour infiltration at different heating rates

The present work investigated the effects of thermal cycles in air on the tensile properties of a two-dimensional carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide composite (2D C/SiC) prepared by chemical vapour infiltration at different heating rates. The composite was exposed to different cycles of thermal shock between 20 °C and 1300 °C in air. The damage mechanisms were investigated by AE online monitoring and fractured morphology offline analysis. The tensile strength of 2D-C/SiC decreases with increasing thermal cycles. However, the modulus only decrease within 40 cycles. Due to oxidation, with the decrease in heating rate, the residual properties of the material decrease more obviously. Meanwhile, the results of AE online monitoring and fracture analysis show that the matrix damage is more serious at higher heating rate and that more delamination occours in tensile fractures. The above results indicate that for the thermal shock of 2D C/SiC composites in air, oxidative damage plays a key role in the residual properties.     

Heterogeneously Catalyzed Methanolysis of Gmelina Seed Oil to Biodiesel

The heterogeneous catalysis of transesterification of gmelina seed oil to biodiesel is evaluated. The oil was extracted from the seeds with n‐hexane by solvent extraction and characterized to determine its physiochemical properties. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the effect of process variables on the biodiesel yield. The base‐activated clay catalyst performed as montmorillonite clay with the characteristic property of a Brønsted acid. It has an improved surface area after activation that enhanced its catalytic activity on transesterification reaction. Under optimal conditions, the biodiesel yield was 70.1 %, thus demonstrating that the model predicted well the biodiesel production.     

Optimization of culture conditions for biohydrogen production from sago wastewater by Enterobacter aerogenes using Response Surface Methodology

Sago wastewater (SWW) causes pollution to the environment due to its high organic content. Annually, about 2.5 million tons of SWW is produced in Malaysia. In this study, the potential of SWW as a substrate for biohydrogen production by Enterobacter aerogenes (E. aerogenes) was evaluated. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to find the optimum conditions. From preliminary optimization, it was found that the most significant factors were yeast extract, temperature, and inoculum size. According to Face Centered Central Composite Design (FCCCD), the maximum hydrogen concentration and yield were 630.67 μmol/L and 7.42 mmol H₂/mol glucose, respectively, which is obtained from the sample supplemented with 4.8 g/L yeast extract concentration, 5% inoculum, and incubated at the temperature of 31 °C. Cumulative hydrogen production curve fitted by the modified Gompertz equation suggested that H_max, R_max, and λ from this study were 15.10 mL, 2.18 mL/h, and 9.84 h, respectively.     

Enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution over In2S3 via decoration with GO and Fe2P co-catalysts

In this study, GO and Fe₂P were used as co-catalysts to improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in an In₂S₃ photocatalyst. The metallic character of Fe₂P provided a cheap substitute for traditional noble metal co-catalyst for H₂ production in aqueous media. The GO/Fe₂P/In₂S₃ composite demonstrated significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to pure In₂S₃, delivering a H₂ production rate of 483.35 μmol h^?1 g^?1 and a quantum yield was 22.68% under visible light irradiation. The design of the photocatalyst was optimized using “Design Expert” software. The analysis showed that a GO loading of 1.18 wt%, a Fe loading of 5.36 wt%, and a calcination temperature of 180 °C were optimal.     

H2S Reactive Absorption from Off‐Gas in a Spray Column: Insights from Experiments and Modeling

H₂S removal from an off‐gas stream was performed in a spray column by H₂S reactive absorption into a NaOH solution. The individual and interactive effects of three independent operating variables on the percentage of absorbed H₂S were investigated: the initial pH of the scrubbing solution, the initial scrubbing solution temperature, and the volumetric liquid‐to‐gas ratio. The optimum operating variables were determined by response surface methodology (RSM) attaining a percentage of absorbed H₂S of 98.7 ± 0.2 %. Additionally, the process performance was modeled by an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the percentage of absorbed H₂S. The results showed that the experimental data agreed better with the ANN model than with the RSM results.     

Response Surface Optimization of Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Production by Greenhouse Gases Reforming

The effect of process interaction and response surface optimization of hydrogen-rich syngas production by catalytic carbon dioxide (CO₂) reforming of methane (CH₄) was evaluated. The Box-Behnken design was applied to investigate the influence of CH₄ partial pressure, CO₂ partial pressure, and temperature on the hydrogen yield. The analysis of variance indicated that temperature and CH₄ partial pressure had the most significant impact on the hydrogen yield. Under optimum conditions a maximum hydrogen yield of 71.38 % was achieved. Model validation with the ideal conditions confirmed close agreement of the predicted hydrogen yields with experimental values.     

Hydrothermal Carbonization of Sewage Sludge: Analysis of Process Severity and Solid Content

Hydrothermal carbonization of sewage sludge was carried out with the aim to evaluate the influence of process severity and initial solid content. Response surface methodology was applied to model yield and C yield responses. Enhanced dewaterability performance was recorded under mild processing conditions. The treatment promoted concentration and immobilization of Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, and Cu. Variation of the solid content showed a stronger influence than severity on average yield and C yield. Higher heating values (HHVs) and energy retention efficiencies (EREs) of hydrochars obtained at the lowest solid content displayed the lowest values. Hence, the energy requirements of a first dewatering step should be compared with the related improvement in terms of HHV and ERE when sludge is used as feedstock.     

Production and optimization of high grade cellulase from waste date seeds by Cellulomonas uda NCIM 2353 for biohydrogen production

Production of high grade cellulolytic enzymes from waste agricultural biomass would valorise these wastes to valuable products as well as avoid the pollution problems associated with landfilling of the biomass. In the present study, waste date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) seeds were valorised for cellulase production from Cellulomonas uda NCIM 2353 and for its subsequent usage in biohydrogen production. Optimization of key operational parameters such as date seed concentration, xylose, casein and initial media pH were performed using central composite design to obtain the maximum enzyme yield. The optimum values obtained were (g/L): date seed concentration 30.65, xylose concentration 0.55, casein 7.00 and pH 7.40 for a determination coefficient of 0.999. The results demonstrated a higher prediction accuracy of response surface methodology as the cellulase activity increased six fold (175.96 IU/mL) after optimization. The optimum pH and temperature of purified cellulase was 7 and 50 °C respectively where the enzyme retained nearly 80% of activity upto 180 min. Enzymatic hydrolysis studies showed that a high saccharification efficiency of 60.5% was obtained for acid pretreated sugarcane bagasse by the indigenous cellulase, equivalent to the performance of commercial cellulase. Further, the as-obtained reducing sugars were decomposed by Clostridium thermocellum to produce biohydrogen of maximum concentration 187.44 mmol/L at end of 24 h of fermentation. Results show that date seed substrate based cellulase protein can be employed for industrial processes of biohydrogen production.     

The effect of biomass feeding location on rice husk gasification for hydrogen production

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of biomass feeding location on rice husk gasification for hydrogen production. By comparing the results between top-feed and bottom-feed of the feedstock of the fluidized bed biomass gasification at the reaction temperature between 600～1000 °C and ER = 0.2, 0.27, and 0.33 without steam, the optimum low heating value was increase by 2.35 kJ/g-rice husk by the top-feed to gasifier. Although the yield of hydrogen was decreased by 42% for the rice husk gasification by the top-feed operation, the yield of CO, CO2, and CH4 were highly increased, which enhancing the heating value of the effluent gas. The study results suggested the potential route of the biomass gasification at the different feeding location.