Green Hydrogen-Compressed natural gas (bio-H-CNG) production from food waste: Organic load influence on hydrogen and methane fusion.

Biogenic hydrogen (bioH) enriched compressed natural gas (bio-H-CNG or biohythane) is emerging interest due to its feasibility to use in the existing transportation infrastructure with induced environmental benefits. This study evaluated the production of bioHand biomethane (bioCH) towards bio-H-CNG formation at a varying organic load (OL: 30,40,50 g COD/L) of food waste (FW). Acidogenic reactor operated with FW at 40 g COD/L showed the highest cumulative bioHproduction while elevated OL (50 g COD/L)showedhigher cumulative bioCHproduction (C: 11.92 L) from the methanogenic reactor. BioH and bioCH produced at different time intervals were combined to assess bio-H-CNG. The nature of biocatalyst and OLsignificantly regulated the composition of bio-H-CNG varying between 0.1 and 0.3 of H/(H+CH) ratio accounting for5-12.6 kJ/g COD. Chain elongation, converting short (C2-C4) to medium-chain fatty acids(Caproic acid,1.16 g/L) was specifically observed during the acidogenic process.