Biological hydrogen production using Chlamydomonas reindardtii biomass

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii UTEX 90 was cultivated with continuous supply of 2% $CO_2$ using TAP media at $25^\circ{C}$ and produced biomass 1.18 g of dry cell weight/L for 4 days. C. reinhardtii algal biomass(CAB) was concentrated to 20 times by volume and converted into hydrogen and organic acids by anaerobic fermentation using Clostridium butyricum. Organic acids in the fermentate of CAB were consecutively used to produce hydrogen by Rhodobacter sphaeroides KD 131 under the light condition. Approximately 52% of starch in the concentrated CAB which had 4-5.8, 24-26 and 6-7 g/L of starch, protein and fat, respectively was degraded by Cl. butyricum at $37^\circ{C}$. During this process, hydrogen and some organic acids, such as formate, acetate, propionate, and butyrate, respectively were produced. Further conversion of the organic acids in anaerobic fermentate of CAB by Rb. sphaeroides KD131 produced hydrogen from the anaerobic fermentate under the illumination of 8 klux using halogen lamp at $30^\circ{C}$. The result showed that hydrogen was evolved by the anaerobic conversion using Cl. butyricum and then by the photosynthetic fermentation using Rb. sphaeroides KD131. It indicated that the two-step conversion process produced the maximum amount of hydrogen from algal biomass which contained carbohydrate, protein, and fat via organic acids.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 바이오매스를 이용한 생물학적 수소생산