Producción de Hidrógeno mediante digestión anaerobia de residuos de planta de jitomate

Hydrogen (H2) is recognized as a promising energy carrier among the alternatives for obtaining clean energy, since it has a high energy efficiency (122 kJ / g) and can be obtained from lignocellulosic waste through a biological process. In the state of Guanajuato, high amounts of plant waste derived from tomato cultivation are generated because this is the crop mostly produced through protected agriculture. So, the objective of the present study was to consider tomato plant residues for the generation of hydrogen through the anaerobic digestion process. Two sources of inoculum, native microflora of the tomato plant and anaerobic sludge pretreated at 100 ° C for 24 h; and four mineral media at an initial pH of 6.5 ± 0.2 in batch experiments, were evaluated. The highest yield was 37.4 mLH2 / g SV using native microflora and mineral media with yeast extract. Hydrogen production was found like those reported in the literature for other type of waste, highlighting the no-need to pretreat the substrate or inoculum. Therefore, the methodology propose is efficient to the hydrogen production from tomato plant residues.