Enhancement of the bio-hydrogen production from complex food wastewater using the hematite and nickel oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Nickel oxide and hematite nanoparticles were used to enhance bio-hydrogen production from complex wastewater. This study is conducted thoroughly studied in the batch dark fermentation test. During this batch test hematite nanoparticles alone (400 mg/L) showed a significant enhancement of 133 mL/g VS_added and 4.2 mL/h in hydrogen yield and hydrogen production rate respectively, representing a 19% and 27% relative enhancement, respectively, compared to nickel oxide nanoparticles, and therefore corroborate the usefulness of hematite nanoparticles on the hydrogen production process. Furthermore, the novel approach of simultaneous addition of hematite (400 mg/L) and nickel oxide (10 mg/L) nanoparticles gave a hydrogen yield of 139 mL/g VS_added and hydrogen production rate of about and 4.4 mL/h, during a batch test of complex food waste. The potentials of the possible synergy of simultaneous addition of hematite and nickel oxide nanoparticle for an increase in the bio-hydrogen production, representing an enhancement of about 1.7-fold compared to single nanoparticle addition, is fairly demonstrated in the present study, Conclusively, enhanced activity of the enzymes owing to an optimum loading of nanoparticles of nickel and hematite was attributed to the observed relatively maximum increase in hydrogen production rate and hydrogen yield of about 64%, and 69%, respectively, during the batch test.