Consolidated bioprocessing of hydrogen production from agave biomass by Clostridium acetobutylicum and bovine ruminal fluid

Abstract

The biological production of H2 represents a renewable and eco-friendly energy alternative compared to fossil fuels. However, its production from lignocellulose involves the use of expensive enzymatic complexes. In the present work, the production of H2 from pretreated agave biomass was evaluated by means of a Consolidated Bioprocess (CBP). This strategy was carried through the interaction of cellulose-degrading microorganisms obtained from bovine ruminal fluid (BRF) capable of enhancing H2 production by Clostridium acetobutylicum. The results obtained show the capacity of BRF to hydrolyze the acid pretreated agave, improving the production of H2 in the experiments where the inoculum of Clostridium was greater. According to the results, production of H2 is significantly affected by the increase of the solids loading, obtaining a maximum H2 production at a 10% of solids loading, pH 5.5 and 35 °C, representing a yield of 150 L of H2 per Kg of biomass in 264 h.