Biohydrogen Production from Pineapple Waste: Effect of Substrate Concentration and Acid Pretreatment

摘要

Biohydrogen is the ultimate choice of energy carrier in future due to its superior qualities such as fewer greenhouse gases emission,high energy density(142 kJ/gram),and high energy conversion using a fuel cell.Production of biohydrogen from organic waste e.g.pineapple waste offers a simultaneous solution for renewable energy production and waste management.It is estimated that pineapple cultivation in Indonesia generated more than 1 million ton/year comprising of rotten pineapple fruit,leaves,and stems.Majority of this waste is dumped into landfill area without any treatments which lead to many environmental problems.This research was meant to investigate the utilization of pineapple waste i.e.peel and the core of pineapple fruit and leaves to produce biohydrogen through mesophilic dark fermentation(30°C,1 arm,pH 5.0).Effect of dilute acid treatment and substrate concentration was particularly investigated in these experiments.Peel and core of pineapple waste were subjected to fermentation at 3 various substrate concentration i.e.8.8,17.6 and 26.4-gram VS/liter.Meanwhile,pineapple leaves were pretreated using dilute acid(H2SO4)at 0.2,0.3 and 0.4 N and followed by dark fermentation.Results show that the highest yield of biohydrogen was obtained at a substrate concentration of 26.4-gram VS/liter both for peel and core of the waste.Pretreatment using dilute acid(H2SO4)0.3 N might improve fermentation process with a higher yield at 0.8 ml/gram VS.Hydrogen percentage in biogas produced during fermentation process was in the range between 5-32% of volume ratio.In summary,it is possible to utilize pineapple waste for production of biohydrogen at an optimum substrate concentration of 26.4-gram VS/liter and acid pretreatment(H2SO4)of 0.3 N.