This CONACYT sponsored research focused on studying the anaerobic biochemistry of complex microbial communities living in anaerobic digesting sludge and feeding on phenolic compounds. Phenols in the environment are sometimes unwanted due to their potential toxic and inhibitory effects. For instance, when released into wastewater, phenols could cause a reduction on biogas production from anaerobic digesters. In this respect, the anaerobic fermentation of aromatic compounds is challenging due to thermodynamic limitations, toxic effects and the synergistic and syntrophic associations established between microorganisms and their environment. My research aims were to develop a fermentative-methanogenic consortia degrading phenol; to study the anaerobic treatment of phenol in a two stage anaerobic digester (bioreactors); to study the toxicity and biodegradability of seven aromatic compounds and to correlate biomass with chemical composition. (to be continued).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This CONACYT sponsored research focused on studying the anaerobic biochemistry of complex microbial communities living in anaerobic digesting sludge and feeding on phenolic compounds. Phenols in the environment are sometimes unwanted due to their potential toxic and inhibitory effects. For instance, when released into wastewater, phenols could cause a reduction on biogas production from anaerobic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1126","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rw5S-ia","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=354","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":0},"title":"Conference papers","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Hern\u00e1ndez, J.E., and Edyvean, R. \u201cAnaerobic treatment of phenol in a two-stage anaerobic reactor.\u201d Waste Management 2004, Rhodes, Greece, 203-211. Hernandez, J. E & Edyvean, R. G. (2005) Anaerobic treatment of phenol in a two-stage anaerobic reactor; 7th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Glasgow. Hernandez, J. E., Bachmann, R. T.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":359,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=359","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":1},"title":"Presentations and posters at conferences","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Blanco, D., Hernandez, J.E., Mulas, D. and Gil, M.V. (2007). Genotypic characterization of phenol degrading microbes by applying Temperature Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (TGGE). XXXVI Congress of the Spanish Genetics Society, Leon, Spain. Hernandez, J. E & Edyvean, R. G. (2005) Inhibition of biogas production by substituted phenolic compounds in enriched\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1123,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=1123","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":2},"title":"Two-stage anaerobic digestion (TSAD)","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"February 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Two-stage anaerobic digestion (TSAD) Phenol is a widespread pollutant in many industrial wastewaters. It diminishes biogas formation in anaerobic digesters. We found that a two-stage anaerobic digester (acidogenic and methanogenic) fermented nutrients without inhibition by accumulation of phenol. The acidogenic reactor also prevented inhibition of biogas formation in the second\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Two stage anaerobic digestion","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Two-stage-anaerobic-digestion.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Two-stage-anaerobic-digestion.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Two-stage-anaerobic-digestion.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Two-stage-anaerobic-digestion.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":475,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=475","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":3},"title":"Publications","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"May 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Peer-reviewed papers Tanimu, I.M., Hernandez, J.E. and Bachmann, R.T. (2025). Biogas potential of oil palm empty fruit bunch and lignocellulosic insoluble fibre components via the syringe bioreactor method.\u00a0Fuel.385 (1), p. 134087. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.fuel.2024.134087 \u00a0 Hernandez, J.E., Espinosa-Solares, T., P\u00e9rez-Cadena, R., T\u00e9llez-Jurado, A. and Ram\u00edrez-Arpide, F.R. (2024). Sustainable agrobiorefinery system for advanced\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":335,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=335","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":4},"title":"Research","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Nature is my\u00a0inspiration, it\u00a0motivates me to apply the tenets of chemical engineering to solve some of the current challenges faced by humankind \u2013I may call this, bioinspired chemical engineering\" \u00a0 Value-added chemicals from biomass Functional food from biomass bioprocessing Microbial enhanced oil recovery Bioenergy from cheese industry Molecular identification of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1117,"url":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/?page_id=1117","url_meta":{"origin":1126,"position":5},"title":"Bioenergy from cheese industry","author":"Ernesto Hernandez","date":"February 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We focused at carrying out research in bioenergy production from anaerobic microbial bioreactors treating oleic acid, which is present in fats released by the dairy industry. Cheese whey is also a by-product from dairy industry that at the right conditions may serve as biomass for bioenergy production. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Advances in cheese whey utilization","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Cerdan.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1127,"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1126\/revisions\/1127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ernestohernandez.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}