Biological Hydrogen Production Research Articles

Recent advances in biological hydrogen production from algal biomass: A comprehensive review

Clean fuels play a crucial role in the industrialized world's efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Among the cleanest fuels available, hydrogen stands out as it produces water as a byproduct during combustion. To ensure the sustainable generation of clean fuels, it is imperative to produce hydrogen from environmentally friendly and renewable sources. Biological processes present a promising avenue for the production of hydrogen from affordable and sustainable bio-resources, including biomass and solar energy, using diverse techniques such as direct/indirect photolysis, photo-fermentation, dark-fermentation, and Microbial electrolysis cell. This comprehensive study delves into various aspects of biological hydrogen production, encompassing discussions on microorganisms, different types of substrates and their concentrations, the role of chemical additives, and key operational parameters like temperature, pH, agitation, and insights into hydrogenase and nitrogenase properties. For light-dependent processes, the study also explores the influence of illumination systems. Furthermore, the research examines different configurations of biological processes, integrating light, dark, and photo-fermentation in two- and three-component systems. By investigating these critical factors, the study aims to shed light on optimizing biological hydrogen production. The findings offer valuable insights for advancing the sustainable and efficient utilization of clean fuels in the global effort to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Potential use of sisal juice as raw material for sequential biological production of hydrogen and methane

Potential use of sisal juice as raw material for sequential biological production of hydrogen and methane

Multiscale kinetic modeling for biohydrogen production: A study on membrane bioreactors

Hydrogen can be a capable alternative to fossil fuels due to its carbon-free characteristics, in this content, biological hydrogen production is considered a practical approach because technology is green. Due to parameters affecting biohydrogen production, such as operating conditions, it is crucial to predict the process to see the proper yield. There are several conventional and unconventional models used in biohydrogen production prediction. This paper derived a triple first-order prediction model from a previously presented multi-scale kinetic model polynomial built upon the multi-stage growth hypothesis for bio-hydrogen production prediction. The original model was applied to batch and continuous stirred tank reactor studies for their model evaluation, this study evaluated the newly derived model for studies of membrane bioreactors. Due to their increased production yield, membrane bioreactors are an emerging field in biohydrogen production. Although the previous study was mainly applied for batch dark fermentations consisting of various microorganisms, the results presented in this study indicate that it is also applicable for continuous and photo fermentation systems. The original model results reported significant fitness accuracy among different datasheets compared to conventional models like the modified Gompertz model, considering essential factors impacting biohydrogen production suggested in the original model, this paper investigated eleven case studies of dynamic membrane bioreactors with modeling fitness of 99% for most cases. This study reports even higher fitness accuracy compared to the original model, even with different operating conditions.

Biological Hydrogen Energy Production by Novel Strains Bacillus paramycoides and Cereibacter azotoformans through Dark and Photo Fermentation

In daily life, energy plays a critical role. Hydrogen energy is widely recognized as one of the cleanest energy carriers available today. However, hydrogen must be produced as it does not exist freely in nature. Various methods are available for hydrogen production, including electrolysis, thermochemical technology, and biological methods. This study explores the production of biological hydrogen through the degradation of organic substrates by anaerobic microorganisms. Bacillus paramycoides and Cereibacter azotoformans strains were selected as they have not yet been studied for biological hydrogen fermentation. This study investigates the ability of these microorganisms to produce biological hydrogen. Initially, the cells were identified using cell morphology study, gram staining procedure, and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene polymerase chain reaction. The cells were revealed as Bacillus paramycoides (MCCC 1A04098) and Cereibacter azotoformans (JCM 9340). Moreover, the growth behaviour and biological hydrogen production of the dark and photo fermentative cells were studied. The inoculum concentrations experimented with were 1% and 10% inoculum size. This study found that Bacillus paramycoides and Cereibacter azotoformans are promising strains for hydrogen production, but further optimization processes should be performed to obtain the highest hydrogen yield.

Application of nanoparticles to increase biological hydrogen production: the difference in metabolic pathways in batch and continuous reactors

ABSTRACT An alternative to improve the production of biorefinery products, such as biohydrogen (H2) and volatile fatty acids (VFA), is the combination of nanotechnology and biological processes. In order to compare the use of both processes in two different reactor configurations, batch reactors and continuous anaerobic fluidized bed reactors (AFBR) were studied under the same conditions (37°C, pH 6.8, Clostridium butyricum as an inoculum and glucose as a substrate) to evaluate the influence of zero valence iron and nickel nanoparticles (NPs) on H2 and VFA production. There was a shift in the production of acetic and butyric acids to produce mainly valeric acid when NPs were added in batch reactors. Meanwhile, in AFBR the change was from lactic acid to butyric and acetic acids with the addition of NPs. It showed that the effect of NPs on the fermentation process was different when the configuration of batch and continuous reactors was compared. The H2 yield in both reactor configurations increased with the addition of NPs. In batch reactors from 6.6 to 8.0 mmol H2 g−1 of COD and in AFBR from 4.9 to 6.2 mmol of H2 g−1 of COD. Therefore, given the simplicity and low cost of the synthesis of metallic NPs, it is a promising additive to optimize the fermentation process in different reactor configurations.

Biological hydrogen production by Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 in a variable volume process: in silico optimization and sensitivity analysis

Biological hydrogen production by Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 in a variable volume process: in silico optimization and sensitivity analysis

Biological Hydrogen Production from Biowaste Using Dark Fermentation, Storage and Transportation

Hydrogen is widely considered as the fuel of the future. Due to the challenges present during hydrogen production using conventional processes and technologies, additional methods must be considered, like the use of microorganisms. One of the most promising technologies is dark fermentation, a process where microorganisms are utilized to produce hydrogen from biomass. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the biological processes of hydrogen production, specifically emphasizing the dark fermentation process. This kind of fermentation involves bacteria, such as Clostridium and Enterobacterium, to produce hydrogen from organic waste. Synthetic microbial consortia are also discussed for hydrogen production from different types of biomasses, including lignocellulosic biomass, which includes all biomass composed of lignin and (hemi)cellulose, sugar-rich waste waters, and others. The use of genetic engineering to improve the fermentation properties of selected microorganisms is also considered. Finally, the paper covers the important aspect of hydrogen management, including storage, transport, and economics.

Algal cell bionics as a step towards photosynthesis-independent hydrogen production

The engineering and modulation of living micro-organisms is a key challenge in green bio-manufacturing for the development of sustainable and carbon-neutral energy technologies. Here, we develop a cellular bionic approach in which living algal cells are interfaced with an ultra-thin shell of a conductive polymer along with a calcium carbonate exoskeleton to produce a discrete cellular micro-niche capable of sustained photosynthetic and photosynthetic-independent hydrogen production. The surface-augmented algal cells induce oxygen depletion, conduct photo-induced extracellular electrons, and provide structural and chemical stability that collectively give rise to localized hypoxic conditions and concomitant hydrogenase activity under daylight in air. We show that assembly of the living cellular micro-niche opens a direct extracellular photoelectron pathway to hydrogenase resulting in photosynthesis-independent hydrogen evolution for 200 d. In addition, surface-conductive dead algal cells continue to produce hydrogen for up to 8 d due to their structural stability and retention of functional hydrogenases. Overall, the integration of artificial biological hydrogen production pathways and natural photosynthesis in surface-augmented algal cells provides a cellular bionic approach to enhanced green hydrogen production under environmentally benign conditions and could pave the way to new opportunities in sustainable energy production.

Temperature and pH Control of Dark Fermentation Bioreactor to Produce Biohydrogen from Palm Oil Mill Effluent by Using Fuzzy Logic Controller

Hydrogen is the main choice of renewable fuel since it brings significant benefits compared with the other conventional fuels, such as the use of waste substrate, cleaner and highest energy density. Biological hydrogen production route is cost efficient since it can be processed in ambient conditions, easy operational techniques while keeping the environment safe. Dark fermentation to produce bio-hydrogen has received widespread attention from researchers in the present decades especially due to not requires light sources. This work is a study of the optimization of process conditions particularly pH and temperature of a dark fermentation bioreactor to produce Bio-H2 from palm oil mill effluent (POME) by using fuzzy logic controller. The simulation started by developing process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) of bioreactor. Then a conventional PID controller and fuzzy logic controller were simulated by using MATLAB SIMULINK and the results were compared with each other in terms of safety aspect. The temperature of 37oC and pH of 6 is the optimum conditions that needs to be maintained to yield the hydrogen at 2.79 mol H2 mol-1 glucose. The pH is able to reach optimum value at 600s and 30s by using the PID controller and fuzzy logic controller, respectively. Same goes to temperature control, where the parameter reaches optimum value at 200s and 0.3s respectively. Based on these promising results, fuzzy logic controller is a good replacement for the conventional control systems since it requires shorter time to optimize process conditions, consequently making sure the safety aspect is well guaranteed.

Various treatment methods for enhanced bio-hydrogen production

World is focused on renewable and cleaner fuels like hydrogen. However, their extraction through conventional methods generates heavy pollution. Biological hydrogen production (bio-hydrogen) is a cleaner process that reduces pollution. Organic compounds like biomass and cow dung are fed in anaerobic digestion which solves raw material availability and waste management problems. This paper reviews the working of anaerobic digestion using organic compounds for bio-hydrogen production and various methods implemented to enhance the hydrogen yield. Physical methods like heat pre-treatment, ultraviolet, ultrasonication and aeration, and chemical methods like pH pre-treatment and chemical addition are briefly discussed in earlier published works. Heat pre-treatment, ultrasonication, pH pre-treatment and chemical addition show a drastic improvement in hydrogen concentration, while aeration and ultraviolet pre-treatment show slight improvement. Hence, the review suggests that both physical and chemical methods can be implemented simultaneously for better results.Therefore, the various treatment methods can be utilized in the anaerobic digestion process for improved hydrogen production.

Supplementation of magnetic nanoparticles for enhancement of dark fermentative hydrogen production from pretreated garden wastes using Enterobacter aerogenes

The supplementation of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) to the dark fermentative hydrogen production system mediated by Enterobacter aerogenes using pretreated garden wastes as feedstock was investigated to determine the enhancement of biohydrogen production efficiency. The optimized pretreatment conditions of 2% sulfuric acid with sonication (AS) and 2% Viscozyme L with sonication (ES) of garden wastes yielded a maximum of 33 and 37% total reducing sugar, respectively. In addition, the supplementation of 30 mg/L of magnetic NPs to dark fermentative system of AS and ES yielded 32 and 30% increased hydrogen production compared with the control without NPs, respectively. A maximum yield of 2.43 mol H2/mol sugar utilized was achieved in the optimized system supplemented with NPs. The reusability of the magnetic NPs offers an additional advantage showing more than 90% relative hydrogen production retained after four consecutive cycles. The proposed mechanisms suggest that the optimum level of magnetic NPs supplementation increases the electron transfer rate and modifies the E. aerogenes metabolic pathway, limiting ethanol production and increasing acetate proportion in the end metabolite analysis. Overall, the addition of magnetic NPs to the dark fermentative system improved the biological hydrogen production.

A Semiconductor Biohybrid System for Photo-Synergetic Enhancement of Biological Hydrogen Production.

CdS nanoparticles were introduced on E. coli cells to construct a hydrogen generating biohybrid system via the biointerface of tannic acid-Fe complex. This hybrid system promotes good biological activity in a high salinity environment. Under light illumination, the as-synthesized biohybrid system achieves a 32.44 % enhancement of hydrogen production in seawater through a synergistic effect.

The exploration of hydrogen production promoting mechanism of Rhodobacter sphaeroides by expressing tetA under tetracycline stress

Photo-fermentative hydrogen production rate improving has been a key limiting link in the field of biological hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacterium (PSB) in recent years. In our previous study, apparent hydrogen production enhancement was observed in R. sphaeroides HY01 with tetA expressed under tetracycline (Tc), which attracted our interests. It was found that Tc-resistant strains always presented stable hydrogen production promotion on the maximum hydrogen production rate (Rm), which was approximately 30% with Tc addition. Figuring out the underlying connections between Tc resistance and hydrogen production of R. sphaeroides may provide new methods for obtaining engineered PSB with high hydrogen production performance. In this study, basing on experimental tests, hydrogen promotion of resistant strain was found to be Tc dose-dependent. Some relevant gene expression differences on hydrogen production of Rodobacter sphaeroides induced by the expression of TetA and the addition of Tc were also tested and discussed.

Elucidation of the electron transfer mechanisms of hydrogen production from light by Shewanella oneidensis - cadmium sulfide biohybrid system

The biological hydrogen production from sunlight using biohybrid systems is an emergent attractive technology developed to help decarbonize manufacturing, transportation, and energy production. The electroactive organism Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 has been successfully used as a biocatalyst in whole-cell biohybrid systems for hydrogen production. In this work, knock-out mutants of the key proteins involved in the extracellular electron transfer pathway of S. oneidensis MR-1 were used to unravel the electron transfer pathway of the biohybrid S. oneidensis-CdS system for the photoproduction of hydrogen. While the cytochromes OmcA, MtrC, MtrA and CymA were shown to be crucial for electron uptake and hydrogen production, the periplasmic proteins STC and FccA do not participate in this process. This information was used to improve hydrogen production, demonstrating that the photoproduction of hydrogen by a biohybrid system can be improved and can be a promising approach to address global energy and environmental problems.

Photobiohydrogen Production and Strategies for H2 Yield Improvements in Cyanobacteria.

Hydrogen gas (H2) is one of the potential future sustainable and clean energy carriers that may substitute the use of fossil resources including fuels since it has a high energy content (heating value of 141.65MJ/kg) when compared to traditional hydrocarbon fuels [1]. Water is a primary product of combustion being a most significant advantage of H2 being environmentally friendly with the capacity to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. H2 is used in various applications. It generates electricity in fuel cells, including applications in transportation, and can be applied as fuel in rocket engines [2]. Moreover, H2 is an important gas and raw material in many industrial applications. However, the high cost of the H2 production processes requiring the use of other energy sources is a significant disadvantage. At present, H2 can be prepared in many conventional ways, such as steam reforming, electrolysis, and biohydrogen production processes. Steam reforming uses high-temperature steam to produce hydrogen gas from fossil resources including natural gas. Electrolysis is an electrolytic process to decompose water molecules into O2 and H2. However, both these two methods are energy-intensive and producing hydrogen from natural gas, which is mostly methane (CH4) and in steam reforming generates CO2 and pollutants as by-products. On the other hand, biological hydrogen production is more environmentally sustainable and less energy intensive than thermochemical and electrochemical processes [3], but most concepts are not yet developed to production scale.

Growth Study and Biological Hydrogen Production by novel strain Bacillus paramycoides

Industrial revolution has created high dependent on fossil fuels for energy creation. However, combustion of fossil fuels has created excessive amount of greenhouse gases, hence led to climate change. Thus, renewable energy has been proposed to alleviate the environmental pollution issues around the globe. One of the promising renewable energies is green hydrogen energy. Commercialized technologies such as electrolysis and thermochemical reaction are utilized to form hydrogen energy. Nonetheless, these processes require high energy and yet producing greenhouse gases that harm the environment. In this study, biodegradation process to produce hydrogen energy has been explored. To our knowledge, Bacillus paramycoides strain has not yet been investigated for biological hydrogen evolution. Therefore, in this paper, the ability of Bacillus paramycoides to produce biological hydrogen has been studied. The rod-shaped and gram-positive Bacillus paramycoides was identified under scanning electron microscope and gram staining procedure. Furthermore, biological hydrogen generation by Bacillus sp. was experimented for 96 hours. The result shows that 4668 ± 120 ppm cumulative hydrogen gas was generated through dark fermentation process. For Bacillus sp. growth study, lag, log, and stationary phase have been achieved in 96 hours. In a summary, metabolic engineering to degrade abundant biomass wastes is a sustainable pathway to produce hydrogen energy, simultaneously resolve waste management issue around the globe.

Biological hydrogen production from paper mill effluent via dark fermentation in a packed bed biofilm reactor

This study assessed the feasibility of continuous hydrogen production in an anaerobic packed bed biofilm reactor (APBR) using paper mill effluent (PME) without any pretreatment or modification. To form a microbial biofilm on supports, the reactor was seeded with a thermal pretreated anaerobic sludge. After the start-up stage, under mesophilic conditions and pH control, the system performance in the case of hydrogen production as biofuel and VFAs as valuable by-products as well as COD removal was investigated at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (24, 16, 12, 8, 4, 2 and 1.2 h). The highest hydrogen concentration in the produced gas was 41.5 % obtained at HRT 4 h. The highest hydrogen production rate and yield were 6.21 L H2 d−1 L−1 at HRT 2 h and 0.96 mmol H2 g−1 COD at HRT 8 h, respectively. With decreasing the HRT from 24 to 1.2 h, the OLR was increased from 27.35 to 547 g COD L−1 d−1 that positively affect the hydrogen production rate for all HRTs except for the shortest HRT. Furthermore, COD removal efficiency was reduced from 25.2 to 6 %. Low value of COD removal efficiency is because of conversion of organic inlet to valuable metabolites such as VFAs in the effluent.

Co-digestion of domestic kitchen food waste and palm oil mill effluent for biohydrogen production

Biohydrogen production from organic waste not only provides a sustainable way to produce biofuel but it also resolves the growing environmental concerns associated with agro-industrial waste. This research study investigated the biological hydrogen production potential in batch mode through co-digestion of domestic kitchen food waste (DKFW) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) under mesophilic conditions by immobilized Bacillus anthracis bacterial strain. The results showed that hydrogen production from co-digestion of DKFW and POME with an equal proportion of the combination is pH and temperature-dependent. Where, the elevated pH from 4.0 to 5.0 increases hydrogen production significantly; however, increasing the pH > 5.0 reduces productivity. Similarly, by raising the operating temperature from 25 °C to 35 °C the hydrogen production rate (HPR) increases up to 67 mL/h. Apart from hydrogen production, a reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) was observed by up to 72 % in this study. The improvement observed for HPR and a significant reduction in COD, suggests that the co-digestion of POME and DKFW is an ideal substrate for hydrogen production at operational temperatures and initial pH of 35 °C and 5.0, respectively. The strategy for utilizing the different organic waste together as a substrate provides a new avenue for the complex substrate for bioenergy production.

Biological Hydrogen Production by Dark Fermentation in a Stirred Tank Reactor and Its Correlation with the pH Time Evolution

Dark fermentation is a hydrogen generating process carried out by anaerobic spore-forming bacteria that metabolize carbon sources producing gas and short-chain acids. The process can be controlled, and the hydrogen harvested if bacteria are grown in a reactor with favorable conditions. In this work, bacteria selected from natural sources were grown with a defined culture media, while pH was monitored, with the aim of relating the amount of generated hydrogen to the increase in hydron ion concentration. Therefore, a model based on the acid-base species mass balance is proposed and solved to estimate the lag phase time and measure the hydrogen production efficiency and kinetics. Hydrogen production in a stirred batch reactor was performed for 150–200 h, at given operating conditions using a previously defined growth media, to validate the model. Using the proposed model, the cumulated moles of produced hydrogen correlate well with those predicted from the pH curve. Hence, the modified Gompertz model parameters, largely used for describing the hydrogen generation kinetics by dark fermentation, were estimated from the pH curve and from the experimentally measured generated hydrogen. Satisfactory agreement was found, thus, validating the method.

Enhancement of static magnetic field on biological hydrogen production via photo-fermentation of giant reed

The effect of static magnetic field (SMF) on the system of photo-fermentation biological hydrogen production remains dimness. The goal of this study was to clarify the correlation between external SMF addition and hydrogen production via photo-fermentation from giant reed. SMF with 20 mT improved the cumulative H2 yield by 26.1% and reduced the lag time of hydrogen production by 56.7% compared with that of without external magnetic field. Moreover, 20 mT of SMF not only enhanced the activity of nitrogenase by 94.52%, but also obtained the maximum energy conversion efficiency of 27.27%. The distribution of volatile fatty acids proved that the concentration of acetic acid and butyric acid were 137% and 81% higher than that of without SMF, respectively. The results would help to trigger the positive interaction between SMF and microorganism and to avoid the possible negative interaction.