A two-stage modelling and optimization of biohydrogen production is reported. A mixture
design was used to determine the optimum proportions of bean husk (BH), corn stalk (CS),
and organic fraction of solid municipal waste (OFSMW).
The optimum operational set-points for substrate concentration, pH, temperature and hydraulic retention time (HRT) were further investigated using the box-behnken design. The quadratic polynomial modelfrom the mixture design had a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9427 and the optimized mixtures were in the ratio of OFSMW:BH:CS ¼ 30:0:0 and OFSMW:BH:CS ¼ 15:15:0 with yields of 56.47 ml H2/g TVS and 41.16 ml H2/g TVS respectively.
Optimization on physico-chemical process parameters on the improved substrate gave the setpoints of 40.45 g/l,7.9, 30.29 ˚C 86.28 h for substrate concentration, pH, temperature and HRT respectively
having a predicted H2 yield of 57.73 ml H2/g TVS. Model validation gave 58.62 ml H2/g TVS,
thus an improvement of 3.8% on the optimized mixture. Biohydrogen production can be
significantly enhanced by a suitable mixture of agro-municipal waste and operational
optimal setpoints.