A review of the innovative gas separation membrane bioreactor with mechanisms for integrated production and purification of biohydrogen

Abstract

This review article focuses on an assessment of the innovative Gas Separation Membrane Bioreactor (GS-MBR), which is an emerging technology because of its potential for in-situ biohydrogen production and separation. The GS-MBR, as a special membrane bioreactor, enriches CO directly from the headspace of the anaerobic H fermentation process. CO can be fed as a substrate to auxiliary photo-bioreactors to grow microalgae as a promising raw material for biocatalyzed, dark fermentative H-evolution. Overall, these features make the GS-MBR worthy of study. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the GS-MBR has not been studied in detail to date; hence, a comprehensive review of this topic will be useful to the scientific community.

Membrane processes

“…In the past year only, two investigations on the gas-permeable membrane were reported, one on in situ biohydrogen production and the other on the recovery of nitrogen from wastewater. Bakonyi et al (2018) conducted a review that focused on an assessment of the innovative gas separation MBR (GS-MBR), an emerging technology because of its potential for in situ biohydrogen production and separation, and a special MBR, that enriched CO 2 directly from the headspace of the anaerobic H 2 fermentation process. CO 2 can be fed as a substrate to auxiliary photobioreactors to grow microalgae as a promising raw material for bio catalyzed, dark fermentative H 2 -evolution.…”

Integration of Membranes and Bioreactors

“…It consists usually of methane, CO2, and H2S mainly. To separate these compounds, membranes can be applied, as well, but these membranes have selectivity toward one of the compounds in the gaseous mixture [12,15]. The process is called membrane gas separation, and its driving force is mainly the pressure difference, similar to UF and MF.…”

“…MBR systems can be distinguished according to the membrane process integrated [16,17]. Beyond pressure-driven methods (microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration), other techniques like pervaporation, electrodialysis, and gas Anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactor AFMBR [9] Anaerobic membrane bioreactor AnMBR [6][7][8][9][10][11] Airlift oxidation ditch membrane bioreactor AOXMBR [8] Bioelectrochemical membrane reactor BEMR [8] Batch granulation membrane bioreactor BG-MBR [8] Baffled membrane bioreactor BMBR [10] Electrochemical membrane bioreactor EMBR [8] Gas separation-membrane bioreactor GS-MBR [12] Hybrid-growth membrane bioreactor HG-MBR [9] Immersed hollow fiber membrane bioreactor IHFMB [13] Membrane electro-bioreactor MEBR [8] Membrane gradostat reactor MGR [14] Magnetically induced membrane vibration membrane bioreactor MMV-MBR [8] Membrane photobioreactor MPBR [8] Osmotic membrane bioreactor OMBR [7] Reciprocation membrane bioreactor rMBR [8] Single fiber membrane gradostat reactor SFMGR [14] separation can be applied. To connect these membrane processes to the bioreaction, careful design and optimization should be accomplished before starting the operation of MBRs.…”

Feasibility study of polyetherimide membrane for enrichment of carbon dioxide from synthetic biohydrogen mixture and subsequent utilization scenario using microalgae

“…18,19 This gives a possibility for the construction of circular bioprocess in which H 2 is evolved and microalgae are grown, according to the scheme demonstrated in Figure 1. 20 Another point to be considered for such an internal, closed-loop design presented in Figure 1 is the purification of biohydrogen gas and the simultaneous valorization of the gaseous byproduct with increased CO 2 content. These steps can be assisted by gas separation membranes that bridge the biohydrogen fermenter and the algal photobioreactor and as an advantage, enable for the biological sequestration and conversion of carbon dioxide into biomass and other value-added components within the integrated system.…”