Use of gas transfer membranes for recovery of renewable energy in anaerobic digesters

Hydrogen energy could be a possible sustainable energy source to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases if it is produced from renewable sources such as biomass and wastewater. Gas transfer membranes that would stop H2 consuming methanogenesis in anaerobic bioreactor were evaluated. More renewable energy in terms of gas production such as CH4 and H2 can be recovered using gas transfer membranes. Lower hydraulic retention time was required to stop H2 consuming methanogenesis completely. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake, UT 11/4-9/2007).