Evaluation of various cheese whey treatment scenarios in single-chamber microbial electrolysis cells for improved biohydrogen production.

In this study single-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) were applied to treat cheese whey (CW), an industrial by-product, and recover H gas. Firstly, this substrate was fed directly to the MEC to get the initial feedback about its H generation potential. The results indicated that the direct application of CW requires an adequate pH control to realize bioelectrohydrogenesis and avoid operational failure due to the loss of bioanode activity.