Direct hydrogen production from cellulosic waste materials with a single-step dark fermentation process

Abstract

Biohydrogen production from cellulosic waste materials using dark fermentation is a promising technology for producing renewable energy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate residual cellulosic materials generated from local sources for their H 2 production potential without any pretreatment. Clostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405, a cellulolytic, thermophilic bacterium that has been shown to be capable of H 2 production on both cellobiose and α-cellulose substrates, was used in simultaneous batch fermentation experiments with dried distillers grain (DDGs), barley hulls (BH) and fusarium head blight contaminated barley hulls (CBH) as the carbon source. Overall, the dried distillers grain produced the highest concentration of hydrogen gas at 1.27 mmol H 2/glucose equivalent utilized. CBH and BH produced 1.18 and 1.24 mmol H 2/glucose equivalent utilized, respectively. Overall, this study indicates that hydrogen derived from a variety of cellulosic waste biomass sources is a possible candidate for the development of sustainable energy.