Electrolytic separation of volatile fatty acids from hydrogen fermented food wastes

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the electrodialysis (ED) process for the economic and efficient recovery of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from the hydrogen fermentation broth of food wastes. Among tested operational variables, the volumetric ratio of the feed to the concentrate (VF:VC) was found to be the most critical for the fast and economic recovery of VFAs. Meanwhile, the increase in the applied voltage did not result any significant impact in the enhancement of VFA recovery due to the intrinsic resistance of anionic exchange membrane against to VFAs. The maximum VFAs purity of 96.2% was successfully achieved at the operational condition of VF:VC of 1:2 and 8 V with energy consumption of 0.395 kWh/kg-VFAs.