Presented at the 2nd Membrane Science and Technology Conference of Visegrad Countries (PERMEA), Polanica Zdroj, Poland, 18–22 September 2005. Desalination 198 (2006) 56–66 Fuel gases from organic wastes using membrane bioreactors L.G. Gassanova a* , Alexander I. Netrusov b , V.V. Teplyakov a , M. Modigell c a A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia Tel. +7 (495) 955-4346; Fax: +7 (495) 340-3334; email: tepl@ips.ac.ru b Biology Department, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia c Institut für Verfahrenstechnik, RWTH, Aachen, Germany Received 3 November 2005; Accepted 21 February 2006 Abstract One way to produce fuel gases is using bioreactors producing CH 4 /CO 2 , H 2 /CO 2 and CH 4 /H 2 /CO 2 gas mixtures. This method has many advantages; for example, low energy consumption, high ecological efficiency, utilization of organic wastes, accessibility and simplicity of hardware implementation. The results of organic waste bioconversion into methane and hydrogen by using an active membrane system integrated with aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors are presented. The suggested biomembrane system includes three types of fermenters: an aerobic phototrophic biomass producing reactor for CO 2 consumption and O 2 production from Anabaena variabilis, an anaerobic methane bioreactor for biomass transformation into biogas by using the methanogenic community, and Rhodobacter capsulatus immobilized in a polymeric matrix. The latter system was used for lactate or other low organics decomposition. The combination of the biosystem with membrane contactors and a selective membrane valve achieves a continuous process for energy production and total removal of CO 2 from microbial gas mixtures, which can be fed back into the first aerobic productive reactor. In total, the developed system obtains energy from sunlight in the form of combustive gases (CH 4 and H 2 ) with a net CO 2 consumption. Keywords: Membrane contactors; Gas separation; Bioreactor; Carbon dioxide removal 1. Introduction The development of new, low energy con- suming and clean technologies has to include the *Corresponding author. utilization of organic wastes with producing high- quality fuel gases (methane, hydrogen). The requirement of new renewable energy sources such as fuel gases increases every year. One way to produce fuel gases is with bioreactors, which doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.09.009 0011-9164/06/$– See front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.