Treatment of brewery wastewater and its use for biological production of methane and hydrogen

Brewery wastewater (BW) is an agroindustrial waste generated in large quantities, whose treatment can be combined with energy production in the form of biogas rich in methane (CH4) or hydrogen (H-2). The production of CH4 by anaerobic digestion (AD) of this waste is well established, while the biological production of H-2 has been characterized for some agroindustrial wastewater, but has received little attention in the case of BW. This review considers the generation and composition of BW, highlighting recent studies concerning the optimization of CH4 production by AD. Also described are the conditions for production of H-2 from various agroindustrial wastewater, indicating the adaptations necessary for application of this process to BW, and describing relevant studies reported in the literature. The integrated production of CH4 and H-2 is discussed, together with the possibility of using these gases, alone or in combination, in the brewing industry. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.