Ricerc@Sapienza

Management and final disposal of organic waste from the agroindustrial sector, as well as from urban areas (hereinafter referred to as biowaste, BW) represent a critical issue due to their well-known potential environmental impact deriving from the high nutrient content, high oxygen demand, potential emission of odors, production of biogas and high-strength leachate. In addition, BW may exhibit poor geotechnical properties and low mechanical stability this getting disposal a complex task. The traditional approach for BW stabilization based on aerobic processes (i.e., composting), despite its widespread application, presents two major drawbacks: high-energy requirements and difficulties of meeting the high quality standards for safe utilization. Stemming from this, the need for alternative routes is boosting the research in the field.
The innovative approach for BW valorization based on the ¿biorefinery concept¿, involves the appropriate integration of different processes to produce various biofuels and other value- added products. Among this processes, anaerobic digestion for CH4 production is one of the most largely studied and applied one, with a developed state-of-the-art and a fairly mature technology. A promising configuration to overcome the limits of this technology relies on the combination of bio-H2 and CH4 production. The benefits include: improvement of the overall energy balance; reduction of the carbon footprint of the energy sector (no greenhouses gases associated to bio-H2); production of an effluent suitable for further valorization, i.e. as the substrate for CH4 production and/or biochemical conversion into bio-polymers. However, being H2 an intermediate of the overall biochemical reaction, H2 production is unstable, this hindering the application of the process using conventional bioreactor. The present proposal is aimed at developing an innovative system to allow H2 production under operating conditions potentially scalable to the full-scale.