Biological hydrogen potential of materials characteristic of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes

The purpose of this study is to investigate the biological hydrogen production potential of individual organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) by batch experiments. Seven varieties of typical organic solid wastes including rice, cabbage, carrot, egg, lean meat, fat and chicken skin were selected to estimate the hydrogen production potential. Among the OFMSW, carbohydrate produced the most hydrogen through biological hydrogen fermentation compared with proteins or lipids. Subsequently, the biological hydrogen production potentials of some individual carbohydrate were measured: cabbage, 26.3–61.7 mL/g-VS; carrot, 44.9–70.7 mL/g-VS; and rice, 19.3–96.0 mL/g-VS. The hydrogen percentages of the total biogas produced from cabbage, carrot and rice were 33.9–55.1%, 27.7–46.8% and 44.0–45.6%, respectively.