Péter Bakonyi

University of Pannonia, Veszprém · Research Group on Bioengineering, Membrane Technology and Energetics

Urine is a widely available renewable source of nitrogen and phosphorous. The nitrogen in urine is present in the form of urea, which is rapidly hydrolyzed to ammonia and carbonic acid by the urease enzymes occurring in nature. In order to efficiently recover urea, the inhibition of urease must be done, usually by increasing the pH value above 11....

Itaconic acid is a promising biobased organic acid that can be industrially produced in an eco-friendly way by aerobic fungal fermentation. It has many applications, e.g. in biopolymers, and has the potential to help replace or facilitate the green production of other similar but fossil-based chemicals. Nowadays, its production costs are still rela...

Microbial electrosynthesis cells (MES) are devices with demonstrated capability to treat CO2-containing gaseous streams and alongside, generate certain valuable chemical products, particularly methane gas, carboxylic acids, alcohols, etc. Although there are many varieties of MES with their own individual characteristics, all systems have a lot in c...

Biohydrogen production based on agro-industrial wastes might be an attractive and effective technology for providing an energy source in the future. Dark fermentation is considered to be one of the most suitable biohydrogen formation processes. In this paper, various agro-industrial wastes as well as microorganisms applied for biohydrogen formation...

This study aimed to evaluate a gas-liquid membrane contactor for recovering the dissolved gases of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from model aqueous anaerobic effluents. For this purpose, synthetic effluents were prepared by using the gas mixtures of SE-1: 100/0, SE-2: 0/100 and SE-3: 50/50 CH4/CO2 vol.% as well as DI water. The units in wh...

In this research, the recovery of dissolved biogas (CO2/CH4) from synthetic anaerobic effluents was studied using non-porous, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), hollow-fibre gas-liquid membrane contactors towards the design of a reduced carbon-footprint integrated bioprocess. As a key parameter, the gas-to-liquid (G/L) ratio (employing argon as sweep gas...

In this study, microbial fuel cells deploying heterogeneous ion exchange membranes were assessed. The behavior of the cells as a function of the membrane applied was evaluated in terms of maximal current density, electron recovery efficiency and energy production rate (up to 427.5 mA, 47.7 % and 660 J m-2 h-1 , respectively) at different substrate...

Two novel cation exchange membranes (CEM) denoted as PSEBS SU and CF22R14 were examined for two electrochemical applications, and compared to a commercial membrane (Fumasep FKE). Application in microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) and abiotic electrochemical cells (EC) were selected as low and high current density systems (∼1 A m⁻² and 50 A m⁻², resp...

Anaerobic bioprocesses, such as anaerobic digestion and dark fermentation, provide energy carriers in the form of methane and hydrogen gases, respectively. However, their wastewater-type residues, that is, the fermentation effluents, must be treated carefully due to the incomplete and non-selective conversion of organic matter fed to the actual sys...

The scientific interest towards itaconic acid (IA) recovery (produced industrially from biomass by fermentation) significantly increased from around the last decade. IA is a value-added chemical with key-role in the production of versatile polymers and is potentially able to replace certain petrochemical-based materials. Typically, multi-step cryst...

Anaerobic degradation processes: anaerobic digestion (biogasification), biohydrogen fermentation (dark) and microbial fuel cells were applied to treat the organic fraction of a municipal solid waste. The processes were compared based on their ability of energy recovery and Chemical Oxygen Demand reduction.

This study investigated microalgal CO2 fixation at the CO2 concentration ranging from 5 to 40% and the CO2 loading rate of 14.4 to 57.6 L/L-d. Chlorella sp. (AG10133) was selected as the optimal strain for CO2 fixation among examined algal strains. The microalgal CO2 fixation was highly dependent on the CO2 loading rate as well as CO2 concentration...

Hydrophobic ionic liquids (IL) may offer a special electrolyte in the form of supported ionic liquid membranes (SILM) for microbial fuel cells (MFC) due to their advantageous mass transfer characteristics. In this work, the proton and ion transfer properties of SILMs made with IL containing imidazolium cation and [PF6]− and [NTf2]− anions were stud...

In this work, the potential of utilizing a polyetherimide (PEI) hollow‐fiber membrane to separate synthetic biohydrogen mixture (H2/CO2) was studied. From the gas separation experiments, where the effects of feed to permeate pressure ratio (Pfeed/Ppermeate) and stage‐cut as key factors were evaluated, it was found that the PEI membrane had the capa...

In this work, a novel cation exchange membrane, PSEBS SU22 was deployed in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to examine system efficacy in line with membrane characteristics and inoculum source. It turned out that compared to a reference membrane (Nafion), employing PSEBS SU22 resulted in higher current density and electricity generation kinetics, while...

The scope of the current review is to discuss and evaluate the role of the external electrical load/resistor (EEL) on the overall behavior and functional properties of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this work, a comprehensive analysis is made by considering various levels of MFC architecture, such as electric and energy harvesting efficiency, anod...

This work characterizes and comparatively assess two cation exchange membranes (PSEBS SU22 and CF22 R14) and one bipolar membrane (FBM) in microbial electrolysis cells (MEC), fed either by acetate or the mixture of volatile fatty acids as substrates. The PSEBS SU22 is a new, patent-pending material, while the CF22 R14 and FBM are developmental and...

Deriving biohydrogen from dark fermentation is a practically suitable pathway for scaling-up and envisaged mass production. However, a common issue with these systems is the incomplete conversion of feedstock as a result of which, a process effluent with notable organic strength is left behind. The main components of dark fermentation effluents are...

In this study, hollow fibers of commercial polyimide were arranged into membrane modules to test their capacity and performance towards natural gas processing. Particularly, the membranes were characterized for CO2/CH4 separation with and without exposure to some naturally occurring contaminants of natural gases, namely hydrogen sulfide, dodecane,...

To increase the efficiency of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), the separator (which is mostly a membrane) placed between the electrodes or their compartments is considered of high importance besides several other biotic and abiotic factors (e.g. configuration, mode of operation, types of inoculum and substrate). Nafion-based proton exchange membranes (...

Effluents of anaerobic processes still contain valuable components, among which volatile fatty acids (VFAs) can be regarded and should be recovered and/or used further in applications such as microbial electrochemical technology to generate energy/energy carriers. To accomplish the separation of VFAs from waste liquors, various membrane-based solut...

Nowadays, the merging of membrane and fermentation technologies is receiving significant attention such as in the case of itaconic acid (IA) production, which is considered as a value-added chemical. Its biotechnological production is already industrially established; however, the improvements of its fermentative and recovery steps remain topics of...

The performance and behavior of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are influenced by among others the external load (Rext). In this study, the anode-surface biofilm formation in MFCs operated under different Rext selection/tracking-strategies was assessed. MFCs were characterized by electrochemical (voltage/current generation, polarization tests, EIS), mo...

Anaerobic bioconversion of organic wastes to retrieve energy and industrially usable compounds has been studied for long. Although anaerobic effluents retain (i) humifiable, organically bound carbon, and (ii) and agriculturally important macro-and micro-nutrients, their agricultural utilization is limited due partly to environmental legal regulatio...

Itaconic acid (IA) is a well-known, unsaturated, dicarboxylic acid. It is widely used in plastic industry as a co-polymer. Nowadays the itaconic acid is mainly produced by fermentation. Due to the product inhibition effect during the batch operation, the continuous/semi-continuous separation of itaconic acid from the fermentation broth is highly de...

In this work, two commercialized anion-exchange membranes (AEMs), AMI-7001 and AF49R27, were applied in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) and compared with a novel AEM (PSEBS CM DBC, functionalized with 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) to produce biohydrogen. The evaluation regarding the effect of using different AEMs was carried out using simple (...

In this work, two polymeric membrane separators (a proton exchange membrane (PEM), Nafion, and an anion-exchange membrane (AEM), 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO)-functionalized PSEBS) deployed in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are comparatively assessed. The performances of MFCs according to membrane type were evaluated by biological and electroc...

Biohydrogen production via dark fermentation is currently the most developed method considering its practical readiness for scale-up. However, technological issues to be resolved are still identifiable and should be of concern, particularly in terms of internal mass transfer. If sufficient liquid-to-gas H2 mass transfer rates are not ensured, serio...

In this work, itaconic acid (IA) was produced biotechnologically by Aspergillus terreus fungal strain from glucose. The performance of the batch fermentation was kinetically assessed and the maximal IA production potential, maximal production rate and lag-phase time were determined as 28.1 g/L, 3.83 g/L day and 1.52 days, respectively. In addition,...

This study examined the effect of shear velocity on biohydrogen producing dynamic membrane bioreactor (DMBR) containing 50 µm polyester mesh as supporting material. Increase of shear velocity up to 6.75 m/h enhanced hydrogen production performance as well as biomass retention in both suspended and attached forms, while wash-out was found at a shear...

In the course of dark fermentative hydrogen production, a complex gaseous mixture with significant quantity of CO2 is formed. Hence, proper separation of H2 and CO2 is required for adequate utilization of hydrogen gas in fuel cell applications. Technological solutions for the removal of CO2 can be designed by using gas separation membranes. Neverth...

Membrane separators are key elements of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), especially of those constructed in a dual-chamber configuration. Until now, membranes made of Nafion have been applied the most widely to setup MFCs. However, there is a broader agreement in the literature that Nafion is expensive and in many cases, does not meet the actual (mainl...

The effects of the bioreactor conditions, in particular the mode and intensity of aeration and mixing were studied on itaconic acid (IA) fermentation efficiency by Aspergillus terreus strain from glucose substrate. IA was produced in batch system by systematically varying the oxygen content of the aeration gas (from 21 to 31.5 vol% O2) and the stir...

Anaerobic co-digestion has attracted much attention due to its unique advantages compared with the anaerobic mono-digestion. In this work, the synergistic effect and biodegradation kinetics of sewage sludge (SS)and food waste (FW)were studied during anaerobic co-digestion. Biochemical methane potential (BMP)assay and three kinetic models were used...

In this review, the conversion (thermochemical, biological and hybrid) of chemical energy chiefly enclosed in biomass structures i.e. as 30–50 % cellulose, 15– 35 % hemicellulose and 10–20 % lignin into various forms of fuels/energy products is comparatively analyzed. Cellulose and hemicelluloses formulate almost ~ 70 % of the biomass and are defin...

Given the aggravated greenhouse effect caused by CO2 and the current energy shortage, CO2 capture and reuse has been gaining ever-increasing concerns. Microbial Electrolysis Cells (MECs) has been considered to be a promising alternative to recycle CO2 bioelectrochemically to low-carbon electrofuels such as CH4 by combining electroactive microorgani...

Biological itaconic acid production can by catalyzed by Aspergillus terreus (a filamentous fungi) where the fermentation medium pH is of prominent importance. Therefore, in this work, we investigated what benefits the different pH regulation options might offer in enhancing the process. The batch itaconic acid fermentation data underwent a kinetic...

In this study, microbial fuel cells(MFCs)–operated withnovel cation-and anion-exchange membranes, in particular AN-VPA 60 (CEM) and PSEBS DABCO (AEM)–were assessed comparatively with Nafion proton exchange membrane (PEM). The process characterization involved versatileelectrochemical (polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy –EIS, cycli...

Leachate generated in landfills is considered as a hazardous waste stream due to its composition and needs adequate treatment for environmental protection purposes. Nonetheless, a contemporary technology should not only be able to deal with its degradation, but at the same time, recover energy in various forms. Such valorization approaches with pri...

The scope of the review is to discuss the current state of knowledge and lessons learned on biofouling of membrane separators being used for microbial electrochemical technologies (MET). It is illustrated what crucial membrane features have to be considered and how these affect the MET performance, paying particular attention to membrane biofouling...

In this study, mixed culture bioelectrochemical systems were operated with various membrane separators: one prepared with 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) ionic liquid and another one called Nafion, used as reference for comparative evaluation. In the course of experiments, the primary objective was to reveal the influe...

This study investigated the effect of light intensity on three various microalga consortia collected from natural ecological water bodies (named A, B and C) towards their fatty acid profiling and fractions, carbohydrate and protein production at different light intensities of 100, 200 and 300 μmol m-2 s-1. The results indicating that increasing lig...

Industrially, harvesting of the microalgal biomass is a techno-economic tailback, which essentially meant for the algal biomass industry. It is considered energy as well as cost-intensive in view of the fact that the dewatering process during harvesting. In this review chemical reactions involved in the flocculation of microalage biomass via variou...

This review article focuses on an assessment of the innovative Gas Separation Membrane Bioreactor (GS-MBR), which is an emerging technology because of its potential for in-situ biohydrogen production and separation. The GS-MBR, as a special membrane bioreactor, enriches CO2 directly from the headspace of the anaerobic H2 fermentation process. CO2 c...

Significant advances in the design of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) have promoted these applications to be seen as contemporary biotechnological platforms. However, notable issues in system architecture are still to be addressed and overcome, in particular concerning the membrane separators, which rely widely on polymers. These architectural com...

This study investigated mixed microalgae consortia cultivation in a fed batch reactor using textile wastewater. The results showed 95% of total phosphorus (TP) and 70% of total nitrogen (TN) depletion during the operational period. Algal biomass growth, pollutant removal, and biomass constituents were examined for five cycles of the fed batch opera...

Continuous hydrogen production stability and robustness by dark fermentation were comprehensively studied at laboratory scale. Continuous bioreactors were operated at two different hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 6 and 10 h. The reactors were subjected to feeding shocks given by decreases in the HRT, and therefore the organic loading increases,...

In this work, bioaugmentation strategy was tested to enhance electricity production efficiency from municipal waste liquor feedstock in microbial fuel cells (MFC). During the experiments, MFCs inocu-lated with a mixed anaerobic consortium were enriched by several pure, electro-active bacterial cultures (such as Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Cup...

Lignocellulosic biofuel, in particular hydrogen gas production is governed by successful feedstock pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation. In these days, remarkable attention is paid to the use of ionic liquids to make the fermentable regions of lignocellulose biomass more accessible to the biocatalysts. Although these compounds have great poten...

The purpose of this research was to improve microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance - treating landfill-derived waste liquor - by applying effluents of various biogas fermenters as inocula. It turned out that the differences of initial microbial community profiles notably influenced the efficiency of MFCs. In fact, the adaptation time (during 3 weeks...

In this paper, the enrichment of methane by membrane technology was studied by employing (i) a model as well as (ii) a real biogas mixture produced on a laboratory-scale. Thereafter, the endurance of the process was tested at an existing biogas plant. The commercial gas separation module under investigation contained hollow fiber membranes with a p...

In this paper, pectin-reinforced, supported liquid membranes (SLMs) prepared with carbonic anhydrase (CA) were investigated for CO ⁠ 2 /N ⁠ 2 separation. In the first part of the study, the effect of [Bmim][NTf ⁠ 2 ] ionic liquid (IL)-as possible solvent to fill the pores of cellulose acetate support during SLM fabrication-on enzyme activity was te...

Microbial electrohydrogenesis cells (MECs) are devices that have attracted significant attention from the scientific community to generate hydrogen gas electrochemically with the aid of exoelectrogen microorganisms. It has been demonstrated that MECs are capable to deal with the residual organic materials present in effluents generated along with d...

This work assessed the feasibility of a hydrogenotrophic biogas process integrated with a membrane module in the external-loop design. The major scope was to conduct the investigation from the perspective of the membrane unit and reveal how the operating strategy influences the efficiency of biogas formation. It was observed that the fermenter work...

In this study, a novel miniature terrestrial microbial fuel cells (TMFCs) inoculated with commercial garden soil was developed to generate bioelectricity. The startup and stabilization were evaluated as open circuit voltage (OCV). The effect of an enrichment procedure with 12 mM, 37 mM, and 61 mM Na-acetate under anaerobic conditions was assessed....

(Red, green and brown) macroalgal biomass is a propitious candidate towards covenant alternative energy resources to be converted into biofuels i.e. hydrogen. The application of macroalgae for hydrogen fermentation (promising route in advancing the biohydrogen generation process) could be accomplished by the transformation of carbohydrates, which i...

Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) holds the flexible potentials for waste biorefinery, pollutants removal, CO2 capture, and bioelectrosynthesis of clean and renewable electrofuels or valuable chemical commodities, dealing with the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental deterioration issues. Although substantial advances in process design and m...

In this study, the dependency of energy recovery on separator characteristics applied in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was sought by testing an emerging class of membranes (supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs), prepared with [hmim][PF6] and [bmim][NTf2] ionic liquids) comparatively with well-known proton exchange (Nafion N115) and microfiltration...

The dispersion of granules in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor represents a critical technical issue in methanolic wastewater treatment. In this study, the potentials of coupling a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) into an UASB reactor for improving methanolic wastewater biodegradation, long-term process stability and biomethane recov...

Excess consumption of energy by humans is compounded by environmental pollution, the greenhouse effect and climate change impacts. Current developments in the use of algae for bioenergy production offer several advantages. Algal biomass is hence considered a new bio−material which holds the promise to fulfil the rising demand for energy. Microalgae...

In this study single-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) were applied to treat cheese whey (CW), an industrial by-product, and recover H2 gas. Firstly, this substrate was fed directly to the MEC to get the initial feedback about its H2 generation potential. The results indicated that the direct application of CW requires an adequate pH cont...

In this work, the performance of dual-chamber microbial fuel cells (MFCs) constructed either with commonly used Nafion(®) proton exchange membrane or supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) was assessed. The behavior of MFCs was followed and analyzed by taking the polarization curves and besides, their efficiency was characterized by measuring the...

The start-up of microbial electrohydrogenesis cells (MECs) is a key-step to realize efficient biohydrogen generation and adequate, long-term operation. This review paper deals with the lessons and experiences reported on the most important aspects of H2 producing MEC start-up. The comprehensive survey covers the assessment and discussion of the mai...

The aim of this work was to study the inhibition and deactivation of commercial enzyme cocktail (Cellic® Htec2) in the presence of [bmim][Cl] ionic liquid employing model cellulosic substrate, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). It turned out from the experiements – relying on enzyme kinetics appproach – that [bmim][Cl] could act as a competitive inhibi...

This study evaluated the feasibility of anaerobic hydrogen fermentation of galactose, a red algal biomass sugar, using individual and combined mixed culture inocula. Heat-treated (90°C, 30 min) samples of granular sludge (GS) and suspended digester sludge (SDS) were used as inoculum sources. The type of mixed culture inoculum played an important ro...

In this work we report on the hydrogen production capacity of single-chamber microbial electrohydrogenesis cell (MEC) with optimized design characteristics, in particular cathode surface area and anode-cathode spacing using acetate as substrate. The results showed that the maximal H2 production rates and best energetic performances could be obtaine...

In this paper, the anaerobic treatment of a high organic-strength wastewater-type feedstoc®k, referred as the liquid fraction of pressed municipal solid waste (LPW) was studied for energy recovery and organic matter removal. The processes investigated were (i) dark fermentation to produce biohydrogen, (ii) anaerobic digestion for biogas formation a...

In this work, the application of ozone, an unexplored pretreatment to improve methane production from three mixed microalgae sources was investigated. Ozonation at various, culture-dependent dosages was employed and its impact on the efficiency of subsequent anaerobic digestion was examined in comparison with untreated biomass. Regardless of the O3...

The use of liquid fraction of pressed municipal solid waste (LPW) for hydrogen production was evaluated via electrohydrogenesis in a single-chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The highest hydrogen production (0.38 ± 0.09 m3 m−3 d−1 and 30.94 ± 7.03 mmol g−1 CODadded) was achieved at an applied voltage of 3.0 V and pH 5.5, increasing by 2.17-...

Hydrogen production from mixed microalgae biomass, predominantly containing Scendesmus and chlorella species, was investigated with a focus on enhancement strategies, in particular (i) pH control (at 5.5) and (ii) methanogenic inhibitor (BESA) addition along with pH control at 5.5. The results obtained showed that the later condition remarkably inc...

The effects of antifoaming agents on fermentative hydrogen production using galactose in batch and continuous operations were investigated. Batch hydrogen production assays with LS-303 (dimethylpolysiloxane), LG-109 (polyalkylene), LG-126 (polyoxyethylenealkylene), and LG-299 (polyether) showed that the doses and types of antifoaming agents played...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are recognized as promising applications to produce bioelectricity by utilizing various waste materials. In this study, dual-chamber microbial fuel cells were employed for energy valorization of an untested substrate, the liquid fraction of pressed municipal solid waste (LPW). This by-product is potentially applicable as...

Fermentative hydrogen production research grows rapidly around the globe to harness "clean energy" by the utilization of renewable feedstock, which can reduce climate change impacts as well as able to resolve concerns related to fossil fuel consumption. Biohydrogen production technologies have been carried out in various modes of operation among wh...

This work reports on the separation of biohydrogen using a hollow-fiber PDMS membrane. The performance of the module was evaluated using binary CO2/H2 (35-65vol.% H2 content) and ternary CO2/H2/H2S mixtures (50vol.% H2, 50vol% CO2, 25-175ppm H2S) and the effect of recovery and gas composition (with special focus on hydrogen sulfide content) was rev...

A novel substrate (obtained from biofraction of municipal solid waste by pressing and called LPW) rich in organic substances was used in three anaerobic degradation processes (biogas, biohydrogen fermentation and microbial fuel cells) to comparatively assess their feasibility for energy recovery. It has turned out that all the processes have succes...

The organic matter consumption and hydrogen production rate were evaluated in a two-chamber microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). Three chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration levels (400, 600 and 1200 mg/L) were tested. The COD was composed of a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) present in the effluent of a dark fermentation process. The two...

In this study various pretreatment methods of sewage sludge inoculum and the statistical process optimization of de-oiled jatropha waste have been reported. Peak hydrogen production rate (HPR) and hydrogen yield (HY) of 0.36 L H2/L-d and 20 mL H2/g Volatile Solid (VS) were obtained when heat shock pretreatment (95 oC, 30 min) was employed. Afterwar...

In this work biohydrogen generation and its improvement possibilities from beverage industrial wastewater were sought. Firstly, mesophilic hydrogen fermentations were conducted in batch vials by applying heat-treated (80°C, 30 min) sludge and liquid (LB-grown) cultures of Escherichia coli XL1-Blue/Enterobacter cloacae DSM 16657 strains for bioaugme...

In this work the establishment of a double-membrane bioreactor was aimed. Initially, a continuous hydrogen fermenter was coupled with a commercial Kubota® microfiltration membrane module and the production performance of the cell-retentive design was evaluated under various hydraulic retention times. As a result, it has been observed that altering...

In this study, optimization of hydrogen fermentation process from de-oiled Jatropha waste using a central composite design was modeled. A series of batch assays was performed at various substrate concentrations (32–368 g/L), temperatures (38–72°C) and pHs (4.8–8.2) according to the experimental design. The optimal conditions for cumulative hydrogen...