Biohydrogen Production Performance Research Articles

Effects of Electric Current on Performance of Bio-hydrogen Production

Fermentation is the most beneficial process for hydrogen (H2) production. The previous studies were mostly focused on medium, microorganisms, pH control, temperature, and hydraulic retention time. In this study, we used electric current to measure the H2 production rate and its concentration. We observed the microorganism morphology to determine the effect of electric current on the microorganism growth state. The results showed the range of H2 production rate and its concentration were 1,200−1,350 mL/L∙hr and 32−42% with the current of 1.05−3.66 mA/cm2. H2 concentration decreased to 2.09 mA/cm2. However, with the shorter rod-shaped microorganisms, the production time was shorter than the original strain.

Enhancing biohydrogen production from xylose through natural FeS2 ore: Mechanistic insights

In this study, we investigated the advantages of utilizing natural FeS2 ore in the context of dark fermentative hydrogen production within a fermentation system employing heat-treated anaerobic granular sludge with xylose as the carbon source. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in both hydrogen production and the maximum rate, with increases of 2.58 and 4.2 times, respectively. Moreover, the presence of FeS2 ore led to a reduction in lag time by more than 2–3 h. The enhanced biohydrogen production performance was attributed to factors such as the intracellular NADH/NAD+ ratio, redox-active components of extracellular polymeric substances, secreted flavins, as well as the presence of hydrogenase and nitrogenase. Furthermore, the FeS2 ore served as a direct electron donor and acceptor during biohydrogen production. This study shed light on the underlying mechanisms contributing to the improved performance of biohydrogen production from xylose during dark fermentation through the supplementation of natural FeS2 ore.

Production of biohydrogen and green platform compound 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid using rice straw hydrolysate

Lignocellulosic hydrolysate contains several inhibitors that hinder downstream biological processes. The immobilized strain Burkholderia sp. H-2 was used in this study to biodetoxify real rice straw hydrolysate and biotransform 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), an inhibitor, into 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a valuable platform compound. An electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) system was applied to recover FDCA and perform secondary detoxification of the biodetoxified real rice straw hydrolysate. The rice straw hydrolysate after biodetoxification and EDBM treatment was used for anaerobic dark fermentative hydrogen production. The immobilized Burkholderia sp. H-2 could completely biotransform 1843 mg/L 5-HMF into 1532 mg/L FDCA within 24 h when the 2-fold diluted rice straw hydrolysate was used as the feedstock. The optimal EDBM system parameters to recover FDCA were a hydrolysate pH of 6, operated at a current density of 17.86 mA/cm2. The FDCA recovery efficiency was 44.6 %, when using the biodetoxified real rice straw hydrolysate as the EDBM feedstock. The rice straw hydrolysate after biodetoxification and EDBM treatment had better biohydrogen production performance than the undetoxified and biodetoxified rice straw hydrolysates.

Enhanced biohydrogen yield and light conversion efficiency during photo-fermentation using immobilized photo-catalytic nano-particles

Bacterial immobilization is a common method in anaerobic fermentation, since of the maintenance of high bacterial activity, insurance of high density microbial during continuous fermentation, and quick adaptability to the environment. While, the bio-hydrogen production capacity of immobilized photosynthetic bacteria (I-PSB) is seriously affected by the low light transfer efficiency. Hence, in this study, photo-catalytic nano-particles (PNPs) was added into the photo-fermentative bio-hydrogen production (PFHP) system, and its enhancement effects of bio-hydrogen production performance were investigated. Results showed that the maximum cumulative hydrogen yield (CHY) of I-PSB with 100 mg/L nano-SnO2 (154.33 ± 7.33 mL) addition was 18.54% and 33.06% higher than those of I-PSB without nano-SnO2 addition and control group (free cells), and the lag time was the shortest indicating a shorter cell arrest time, more cells and faster response. Maximum energy recovery efficiency and light conversion efficiency were also found to be increased by 18.5% and 12.4%, respectively.

Application of nanomaterials in dark or light-assisted fermentation for enhanced biohydrogen production: A mini-review

Biohydrogen is regarded as the most promising new generation of green energy. However, the low yield and high cost of biohydrogen restrict its production on a large scale. Nanomaterials have demonstrated outstanding potential for improving biohydrogen production due to their unique photoelectrochemical properties. Some metal nanoparticles are used to promote biohydrogen production in dark fermentation (biohydrogen increased by 5.4–230 %). The state-of-the-art involves using metal or nonmetal photosensitizers to build extracellular or intracellular photo-biohybrid systems with microorganisms, which can be driven by light to efficiently produce biohydrogen (increased by 1.29–8.6 times). This review has summarized in detail the application status and working principle of metal nanoparticles in dark fermentation, the light-assisted biohydrogen production performance, and the mechanism of the extracellular and intracellular photo-biohybrid system. Next, the toxicity and biocompatibility modifications of nanoparticles were discussed. Finally, we proposed the key issues that should be prioritized in the long-term development of biohydrogen.

The enhancement on biohydrogen production by the driving forces from extracellular iron oxide respiration

Biohydrogen productions from xylose and glucose under dark condition were enhanced by the presence of natural Fe3O4. The electron equivalent of H2 fractions accounted for 4.55 % and 5.69 % of the total given xylose and glucose in the experiments without Fe3O4, and that were correspondingly increased to 5.14 % and 6.50 % in the experiments with 100 mg/L of Fe3O4, respectively. Moreover, Fe3O4 increased the total intracellular NAD(H) concentrations by 8.84 % and 8.37 %, and boosted the ratios of NADH/NAD+ by 8.33 % and 17.72 % in xylose and glucose fermentation, respectively, comparing to the corresponding control experiments. The formation of electron couples of Fe(III)/Fe(II) during the iron oxide respiration and more generation of active extracellular polymeric substances components were determined as the important reasons for the improved biohydrogen production performance. Thus, a promotion mechanism of the internal “driving forces” from extracellular iron oxide respiration on the biohydrogen production was proposed.

Effect of citrate buffer on hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacteria

The effect of citrate buffer on biohydrogen production using photosynthetic bacteria was studied. The study was performed in two steps. First, specific concentrations of citrate and sodium citrate as buffers were mixed into batch cultures, and the effects of these buffers on fermentation broth characteristics and biohydrogen production were analyzed. The maximum overall biohydrogen yield of 411.4 mL, which was 42% higher to the control group, was obtained with 0.05 mol/L citrate buffer. Then, the effect of 0.05 mol/L citrate buffer on biohydrogen yield at different pH values (5.5–7.5) were explored. The maximum biohydrogen yield of 429.82 mL was obtained at pH 6, and the final pH values were effectively controlled. The findings indicated that citrate buffer seriously affected the pH of the reaction liquid. The results provide technical support to stabilize the pH of photo-fermentation broth and improve biohydrogen production performance.

Enhancing photo-fermentation biohydrogen production from corn stalk by iron ion

This study aimed to investigate the enhancement of iron ion on growth, metabolic pathway, and biohydrogen production performance of biohydrogen producing bacteria HAU-M1. Different concentrations of Fe2+ and Fe3+ were respectively added into fermentation broth of photo-fermentation biohydrogen production (PFHP) from corn stalk. Regular sampling test was used to measure the characteristics of fermentation broth and gas, metabolic pathway, energy conversion efficiency, and kinetic of PFHP. The analysis of experimental data showed that the maximum hydrogen yield of 70.25 mL/g was observed at 2500 μmol/L Fe2+ addition, with an energy conversion efficiency of 5.21%, which was 19.98% higher over no-addition. However, the maximum hydrogen content of 51.41% and the maximum hydrogen production rate of 17.82 mL/h were observed at 2000 μmol/L Fe2+ addition. The experimental results revealed that iron ion played a key role in PFHP, which provided a technical support for improving the performance of PFHP.

Biochar boosts dark fermentative H2 production from sugarcane bagasse by selective enrichment/colonization of functional bacteria and enhancing extracellular electron transfer

The influence of biochar (BC) on anerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes have been widely studied. However, the effect of BC on rate-limiting step during AD of lignocellulosic waste, i.e. the hydrolysis and acidogenesis step, is rarely studied and the underlying mechanisms have not been investigated. In this study, the benefits of BC with respect to dark fermentative hydrogen production were explored in a fermentation system by a heat-shocked consortium from sewage sludge (SS) with pretreated sugarcane bagasse (PSCB) as carbon source. The results showed that biochar boosted biohydrogen production by 317.1% through stimulating bacterial growth, improving critical enzymatic activities, manipulating the ratio of NADH/NAD+ and enhancing electron transfer efficiency of fermentation system. Furthermore, cellulolytic Lachnospiraceae was efficiently enriched and electroactive bacteria were selectively colonized and the ecological niche was formed on the surface of biochar. Synergistic effect between functional bacteria and extracellular electron transfer (EET) in electroactive bacteria were assumed to be established and maintained by biochar amendment. This study shed light on the underlying mechanisms of improved performance of biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic waste during mesophilic dark fermentation by BC supplementation.

Enhanced biohydrogen production by an ammonium-tolerant Rhodobacter capsulatus from sugarcane bagasse

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant and renewable resource from plants, and has great potential as an alternative to fossil resources to produce second-generation biofuels. Biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass is an attractive approach to generate clean energy. Here a new ammonium-tolerant mutant named Rhodobacter capsulatus WH02 was isolated by transposon mutagenesis. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of key parameters such as inoculum concentration (5%–60%, v/v), glucose concentration (10–50 mmol/L), and ammonium concentration (2–8 mmol/L) on photo-fermentation of WH02. The results showed that the hydrogen yield of WH02 was about 3.74 folds of the wild type strain at 8 mmol/L ammonium chloride addition, suggesting the mutant strain WH02 exhibited improved biohydrogen production performance under ammonium suppression conditions compared with the wild type strain. Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) hydrolysate with high ammonium concentration (87.94 ± 2.22 mmol/L) was used as substrate to evaluate the ammonium-tolerant performance of WH02. The maximum hydrogen production was up to 153.96 ± 1.98 mL-H2/g-SCB by WH02 from SCB hydrolysate with the energy conversion efficiency of hydrogen of 10.95%, demonstrating the feasibility of producing biohydrogen from lignocellulosic wastes containing high ammonium by the ammonium-tolerant strain WH02.

Role of surfactant in affecting photo-fermentative bio-hydrogen production performance from corncob

Surfactant addition can cause a significant change in the interface state of the solution system, which is helpful to avoid agglomeration and sedimentation of solid state, and improve the mass transfer capacity. Hence, the performance of high-solid photo-fermentative bio-hydrogen production system with bio-surfactant addition was evaluated in this work. Corncob was selected as raw material, and cumulative hydrogen yield (CHY) was taken as reference. The effect of Rhamnolipids (RLs) and Tea Saponin (TSn) addition on hydrogen yield capacity was investigated. The results showed that CHY was effectively increased by the addition of RLs and TSn, the highest CHY of 356.42 ± 16.5 mL and 265.38 ± 7.5 mL appeared when the concentrations of surfactant addition were 0.08 g/L RLs and 1.5 g/L TSn, which were 67.85% and 24.97% higher than control group, respectively. The maximum energy conversion efficiency reached 5.47% and 4.08% with an increase of 67.8% and 25.2%.

Analysis of carbon footprint and energy performance of biohydrogen production through gasification of different waste agricultural biomass from the Philippines

Agricultural crop residues are available in abundance in Asian countries such as the Philippines. These residues have high potential as feedstock to produce clean and high-value energy products, to mitigate global warming and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the carbon footprint and energy performance of biohydrogen production system through gasification of different waste agricultural biomass. The proposed system includes biomass transport and pre-processing, gasification process, and biohydrogen enrichment and purification technologies. Calculation of the syngas composition was performed using a stoichiometric-thermodynamic equilibrium model using python script. Generation of energy from fossil fuel to support the system operations produced the highest greenhouse gas emission. The production system using sugarcane leaves as feedstocks exhibited the lowest carbon footprint, highest gasification efficiency, and best energy performance based on the computed energy ratio. Biophysical allocation was used to determine the burden associated with the biomass during its growth phase. Incorporation of the carbon uptake during biomass growth phase reduced the carbon footprint of the system. Sensitivity analysis showed that increasing C/O and H/O ratio improves the quality of the syngas produced, while increasing C/H ratio results to lower biohydrogen yield. In selection of feedstock mix, it is preferred to maximize C/O and H/O ratio while reducing C/H ratio of the feedstock composition.

Enhancement of the biohydrogen production performance from mixed substrate by photo-fermentation: Effects of initial pH and inoculation volume ratio

Co-digestion of substrates can improve hydrogen yield (HY) by adjusting carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N) of fermentation substrates. This study evaluated the enhancement of hydrogen production from co-digestion of duckweed and corn straw via photo-fermentation. The maximum HY of 78.0 mL/g Total solid (TS) was obtained from the mixed ratio of 5:1 (C/N of 13.2), which was 25.4% and 29.6% higher than those of single substrate of duckweed and corn straw, respectively. The effects of initial pH and inoculation volume ratio (IVR) on co-digestion photo-fermentative hydrogen production (CD-PFHP) from duckweed and corn straw were further studied. A maximum HY of 85.6 mL/g TS was achieved under the optimal condition (initial pH 8, IVR 20%, mix ratio of duckweed and corn straw of 5:1). Additionally, both mix ratio and initial pH showed statistical difference (p < 0.05). Acetic acid and butyric acid were found to be the main metabolic by-products during CD-PFHP.

Improvement in H2 production from Clostridium butyricum by co-culture with Sporolactobacillus vineae

Dark fermentation has emerged as a promising method for converting waste into biohydrogen, a clean and sustainable energy source. However, the interaction between biohydrogen production performance and its microbial community has not been investigated sufficiently. This study investigated the effect of S. vineae on hydrogen production using defined cultures. Co-cultures of Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) with Sporolactobacillus vineae (S. vineae) increased the hydrogen production from 1.57 to 1.84 mol H2/mol glucoseadded, whereas lactic acid production did not increase in comparison with single culture of C. butyricum. At all the examined co-culture conditions, C. butyricum occupied more than 90% of the microbial composition; therefore, the microbial community analysis alone could not explain the difference in hydrogen production according to S. vineae addition. PICRUSt analysis showed that co-culture with S. vineae enhanced the expression of genes relating lactate to butyrate and H2 pathway, although S. vineae did not produce butyrate. Co-cultures of Clostridium sp. and Sporolactobacillus sp. could be beneficial for H2 production from the viewpoint of acidogenic pathway regulation. This study is expected to contribute to the understanding of the synergistic mechanisms of both the strains to obtain optimal biohydrogen production.

Study on biohydrogen production using different type of carrier materials in attached growth system

Renewable energy is known as clean energy with free from greenhouse gas emissions and global warming effects. It is generated from natural resources and one of the most promising renewable energy is biohydrogen. Biohydrogen production gets a great attention around the world because it could remove organic biomass and at the same time supplying clean hydrogen energy. In this study, three support carriers were used namely granular activated carbon (GAC), glass beads (GB) and moringa oleifera seeds (MOS). The main keys of this study was to identify the best support carrier that capable to enhance the biohydrogen production in attached growth system using Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as feedstock. On the other hand, the physicochemical of the attached-biofilm were also investigated by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Other parameter such as hydrogen concentration, volume of biogas, and kinetic study by using modified Gompertz equation has also been studied. At the end of the study, the best performance of biohydrogen production was performed by using GAC with hydrogen yield (HY) = 1.52 mol H2/mol glucose and the hydrogen production rate (HPR) = 58.50 mmol H2/l.d, followed by GB which is HY = 1.43 mol H2/mol glucose and HPR = 54.840 mmol H2/l.d and the last, MOS with HY = 1.08 mol H2/mol glucose and HPR = 41.44 mmol H2/l.d. This study has shown that proper selection of support carrier could reflect the evolution of biohydrogen production.

Effects of different pretreatment methods on the structural characteristics, enzymatic saccharification and photo-fermentative bio-hydrogen production performance of corn straw

In this study, the effects of different pretreatment methods, including hydrothermal, acid, alkali, acid-heat, and alkali-heat on the structural characteristics, enzymatic saccharification and photo-fermentative bio-hydrogen production performance of corn straw were investigated. Results revealed that all the studied pretreatments effectively destroyed the corn straw structure and improved its enzymatic saccharification potential. The alkali-heat and alkali pretreatment showed significant advantage in reducing sugars release, and the highest total reducing sugar concentration of 23.07 g/L was obtained under the pretreatment condition of 2% NaOH-Heat. The maximum cumulative hydrogen yield of 137.76 mL/g TS was achieved from 2% NaOH pretreated corn straw, while corn straw pretreated with 4% NaOH-heat had the minimum cumulative hydrogen yield of 44.20 mL/g TS. These results suggest that appropriate pretreatment can effectively destroy the corn straw structure and enhance its enzymatic saccharification and hydrogen production performance.

Potential of hydrogen production from sugarcane juice by Ethanoligenens harbinense Yuan-3

Inexpensive biomass is an ideal substrate for low-cost production of biohydrogen, but little was known about the biomass utilization performance of the ethanol-type hydrogen-producing bacteria Ethanoligenens harbinense. This study investigated the feasibility and performance of biohydrogen production by Ethanoligenens harbinense from sugarcane juice (SJ). Medium and process were firstly optimized with SJ as carbon source and the highest hydrogen yield was obtained when SJ was hydrolyzed by acid, and the medium contained 10 g/L sugar and 3 g/L yeast extract with pH at 6.0. Compared to batch fermentation, fed-batch fermentation with cell recycle showed significant improvement in hydrogen productivity and yield. The maximum productivity reached 5.22 mmol-H2/L•h, 201.7% higher than that of the single batch (1.73 mmol-H2/L•h). The highest H2 yield was 2.23 mol-H2/mol-hexose, 65.2% higher than that of single batch fermentation. Cell immobilization with the fibrous bed bioreactor (FBB) also improved hydrogen productivity to 2.6 times that of batch fermentation with free cells. This study demonstrated the feasibility of hydrogen production from SJ with Ethanoligens sp., and a great improvement in hydrogen production was obtained by recycling cells and immobilizing cells in a fibrous bed bioreactor.

Analisis Kinetik Penghasilan Biohidrogen dari Proses Fermentasi Menggunakan Bakteria Penghasilan Hidrogen ke atas Span Karbon Aktif daripada Sisa Nanas

Pineapple residues are one of potential biomass feedstock for biohydrogen production. The most convenient way to produce biohydrogen from pineapple residual is through fermentation proses. The process is environmentally friendly and consumes low energy, but generally the process has low yield production. Various strategies can be used to increase production, including the use of immobilized cells in fermentation. The performance of the process can be explained as realistically as possible by the appropriate kinetic model. In this work, a kinetic analysis on fermentative biohydrogen production using different hydrogenproducing bacteria immobilized onto activated carbon sponge has been performed. The performance of cumulative and biohydrogen production rate were assessed using modified Gompertz equation via Excel solver application. All fermentation processes were carried out at a condition of initial pH 7 and temperature of 32 ± 1°C, with 30% v/v inoculum of working volume in batch process. Three different hydrogen-producing bacteria were used, namely Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes and Clostridium sporogenes, were immobilized onto activated carbon sponge and in free cell form as comparison. Based on best fitting curve results on the cumulative biohydrogen production, it was found that modified Gompertz equation were fitted well with all the experimental results of all regression values, R2 were greater than 0.9. This study also presented that E. aerogenes and C. sporogenes able to produce better result compared to E.coli in term of production of biohydrogen The modified Gompertz equation would be useful for further analysis of biohydrogen production performance of selected hydrogen-producing bacteria culture immobilized onto activated sponge from pineapple residues.

Kinerja dan kinetika produksi biohidrogen secara batch dari sampah buah melon dalam reaktor tangki berpengaduk

Abundant amount of melon fruit waste with high sugar anda water content is potential as a substrate for hydrogen production by dark fermentation. This study investigated the performance of biohydrogen production from melon fruit waste in a stirred tank reactor with initial concentration 13100 mg sCOD/L, in a room temperature, initial pH 7 and controlling final pH 5.5 by adding NaOH. The fermentation lasted for 24 hours. pH, VS, sCOD, VFA, biogas volume, hydrogen content, and cell concentration was analized every hour to determine the performance of reactor. Hydrogen content yielding 16.20% with hydrogen production rate (HPR) of 458.12 mL/Lreactor/day in STP condition. Substrate consumption at the end of fermentation reached 24.61% sCOD and 78.28% VS. Metabolite products was dominated by acetate and butyrate with butyrate to acetate ratio of 1.2. The kinetic of product formation was investigated by the kinetic model of Gompertz. Meanwhile the kinetics of cell growth was approximated by Logistics model.

Effect of Different Inoculum Combination on Biohydrogen Production from Melon Fruit Waste

The natural microbial consortium from many sources widely used for hydrogen production. Type of substrate and operating conditions applied on the biodigesters of the natural consortium used as inoculum impact the variation of species and number of microbes that induce biogas formation, so this study examined the effect of different inoculum source and its combination of biohydrogen production performance. The hydrogen producing bacteria from fruit waste digester (FW), cow dung digester (CD), and tofu waste digester (TW) enriched under strictly anaerobic conditions at 37OC. Inoculums from 3 different digesters (FW, CD, and TW) and its combination (FW-CD, CD-TW, FW-TW, and FW-CD-TW) were used to test the hydrogen production from melon waste with volatile solids (VS) concentration of 9.65 g/L, 37°C and initial pH 7.05 ± 0.05. The results showed that individual and combined inoculum produced the gas comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide without any detectable methane. The highest cumulative hydrogen production of 743 mL (yield 207.56 mL/gVS) and 1,132 mL (yield 231.02 mL/gVS) was shown by FW and FW-CD-TW, respectively. Butyric, acetate, formic and propionic were the primary soluble metabolites produced by all the cultures, and the result proves that higher production of propionic acid can decrease hydrogen yield. Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium baratii prominently seen in all single and combination inoculum. Experimental evidence suggests that the inoculum from different biodigesters able to adapt well to the environmental conditions and the new substrate after a combination process as a result of metabolic flexibility derived from the microbial diversity in the community to produce hydrogen. Therefore, inoculum combination could be used as a strategy to improve systems for on-farm energy recovery from animal and plant waste to processing of food and municipal waste.Article History: Received February 5th 2018; Received in revised form May 7th 2018; Accepted June 2nd 2018; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Amekan, Y., Wangi, D.S.A.P., Cahyanto, M.N., Sarto and Widada, J. (2018) Effect of Different Inoculum Combination on Biohydrogen Production from Melon Fruit Waste. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 7(2), 101-109.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.7.2.101-10