Pretreatment of Sago Waste for Biohydrogen Production: Towards a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy

Hydrogen is a promising future energy source because it has a high energy content and produces the least CO2. It contains 122 kJ/g of energy, which is 2.75 times more than hydrocarbon fuels. Biohydrogen production via dark fermentation offers simple mechanisms compared to other biohydrogen production routes, such as photofermentation and hybrid processes. By utilising waste as a substrate, microorganisms can convert sugars into hydrogen. Dark fermentative bacteria not only produce hydrogen but also reduce toxins in the wastewater. However, pretreatment of waste as the substrate for dark fermentation poses challenges. The process must break down complex sugars into fermentable ones without prohibitively expensive or releasing harmful chemicals. This chapter explores various pretreatment methods for sago waste in biohydrogen production.