Recent developments in biohydrogen production from wastewater: A review

Abstract

Fast depleting fossil fuel and its associated negative impacts on environment and climate change raising concern over clean fuel and sustainability. Thus, in line scientific community are thinking to have alternative fuels like hydrogen, natural gas, syngas, and biofuels. Furthermore, hydrogen gas is superior among alternative fuels due to its renewable nature, zero emissions, and generate large content of energy during combustion. Researcher cites on various biological methods like bio photolysis of water, dark fermentation, photo-fermentation, and microbial electrolysis cell. However, biohydrogen production from wastewater as substrate is becoming popular due to less energy intensive and sustainable way to fulfil the future energy demands. With rapid increase in industrialization and urbanization will further increase wastewater generation globally. Hence, wastewaters could have huge potential for the green hydrogen production which ultimately provides clean energy, and the low-cost wastewater treatment. Literature reveals that wastewater from various industries like citric acid, cheese whey, paper mill, rice mill, beverage, cassava starch processing, palm oil, starch processing, pharmaceutical, food processing, distillery, and sugar industry have been utilized for biohydrogen production. Hence, the present review is focused on various wastewaters based green hydrogen production which have overall positive impacts on social, economic, and environment for the future generation.

Keywords:

• Biohydrogen
• wastewater
• photo-fermentation
• dark fermentation
• bio photolysis
• microbial electrolysis cells

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).