Rapid development of the industrial and domestic sectors has led to the rise of several energy and environmental issues. In accordance with sustainable development and waste minimization issues, biohydrogen production along with biomethane production via two-stage fermentation process using microorganisms from renewable sources has received considerable attention. In the present study, biohythane production with simultaneous wastewater treatment was studied in a two-stage (Biohydrogen and Biomethane) fermentation process under anaerobic conditions. Optimization of high organic content (COD) distillery spent wash effluent (DSPW) with dilution using sewage wastewater was carried out. Addition of leachate as a nutrient source was also studied for effective biohythane production. The experimental results showed that the maximum biohythane production at optimized concentration (substrate concentration of 60 g/L with 30% of leachate as a nutrient source) was 67 mmol/L bio-H2 and with bio-CH4 production of 42 mmol/L. Graphical Abstract.
Keywords: Biohydrogen; Biohythane; Biomethane; Distillery spent wash; Leachate.