Hydrogen Production from Cornstalk with Different Pretreatment Methods by Anaerobic Fermentation

As lignocellulosic biomass, the cornstalk should be pretreated before anaerobic fermentation for hydrogen production. In this study, HCl, NaOH and enzyme were employed for cornstalk pretreatment and the products were used for anaerobic biohydrogen production. Hydrogen yield and hydrogen production rate were investigated to optimize cornstalk pretreatment method. In addition, the economic effect and energy consumption were also considered to evaluate the pretreatment methods. The optimum cornstalk pretreatment method was soaking in 2% NaOH at 50 degrees C for 48h with a hydrogen yield of 55.0 ml/g-TS and a hydrogen production rate of 6.5 ml/h/g-VS in anaerobic hydrogen production.