• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.400-406
• /
• 2012

To improve the hydrogen yield from biological fermentation of organic wastewater, a co-culture system of dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria was investigated. In a pure-culture system of the dark-fermentation bacterium Clostridium butyricum, a pH of 6.25 was found to be optimal, resulting in a hydrogen production rate of 18.7 ml-$H_2/l/h$. On the other hand, the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides could produce the most hydrogen at 1.81mol-$H_2/mol$-glucose at pH 7.0. The maximum specific growth rate of R. sphaeroides was determined to be 2.93 $h^{-1}$ when acetic acid was used as the carbon source, a result that was significantly higher than that obtained using either glucose or a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Acetic acid best supported R. sphaeroides cell growth but not hydrogen production. In the co-culture system with glucose, hydrogen could be steadily produced without any lag phase. There were distinguishable inflection points in a plot of accumulated hydrogen over time, resulting from the dynamic production or consumption of VFAs by the interaction between the dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria. Lastly, the hydrogen production rate of a repeated fed-batch run was 15.9 ml-$H_2/l/h$, which was achievable in a sustainable manner.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.393-400
• /
• 2005

Hydrogen($H_2$) as a clean, and renewable energy carrier will be served an important role in the future energy economy. Several biological $H_2$ production processes are known and currently under development, ranging from direct bio-photolysis of water by green algae, indirect bio-photolysis by cyanobacteria including the separated two stage photolysis using the combination of green algae and photosynthetic microorganisms or green algae alone, dark anaerobic fermentation by fermentative bacteria, photo-fermentation by purple bacteria, and water gas shift reaction by photosynthetic or fermentative bacteria. In this paper, biological $H_2$ production processes, that are being explored in fundamental and applied research, are reviewed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.291-298
• /
• 2009

The carbon metabolism of newly isolated Clostridium tyrobutyricum JM1 was investigated at varying initial glucose concentrations (27.8-333.6mM). Because an understanding of metabolic regulations was required to provide guidance for further effective metabolic design or optimization, in this case, maximizing hydrogen production, carbon and energy balances by C. tyrobutyricum JM1 were determined and applied in anaerobic glucose metabolism. The overall carbon distribution suggested that initial glucose concentrations had strong influence on the stoichiometric coefficients of products and the molar production of ATP on the formation of biomass. C. tyrobutyricum JM1 had a high capacity for hydrogen production at the initial glucose concentration of 222.4 mM with high concentrations of acetate and butyrate.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.148-148
• /
• 2005

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.200-200
• /
• 2005

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.225-234
• /
• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.161-165
• /
• 2015

Lactic acid and its derivatives are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. It is also a major raw material for the production of poly-lactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable and environmentally friendly polymer and a possible alternative to synthetic plastics derived from petroleum. For PLA production by new strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), we screened LAB isolates from shellfish. A total of 51 LAB were isolated from 7 types of shellfishes. Lactic acid production of individual isolates was examined using high-performance liquid chromatography using a Chiralpak MA column and an ultraviolet detector. Lactobacillus plantarum T-3 was selected as the most stress-resistant strain, with minimal inhibition concentrations of 1.2 M NaCl, 15% ethanol, and 0.0020% hydrogen peroxide. In a 1 L fermentation experiment, $\small{D}$-lactic acid production of 19.91 g/L fermentation broth was achieved after 9 h cultivation, whereas the maximum production of total lactic acid was 41.37 g/L at 24 h.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.720-726
• /
• 2014

PEM fuel cell vehicles have been getting much attraction due to a sort of highly clean and effective transportation. The onboard fuel processor, however, is inevitably required to supply the hydrogen by conversion from some fuels since there are not enough available hydrogen stations nearby. A lot of studies have been focused on analyses of ATR reactor under the assumption of thermo-neutral condition and those of the optimized process for the minimization of energy consumption using thermal efficiency as an objective function, which doesn't guarantee the maximum hydrogen production. In this study, the analysis of optimization for 100 kW PEMFC onboard fuel processor was conducted targeting various fuels such as gasoline, LPG, diesel using newly defined hydrogen efficiency and keeping simply synthesized heat exchanger network regardless of external utilities leading to compactness and integration. Optimal result of gasoline case shows 9.43% reduction compared to previous study, which shows the newly defined objective function leads to better performance than thermal efficiency in terms of hydrogen production. The sensitivity analysis was also done for hydrogen efficiency, heat recovery of each heat exchanger, and the cost of each fuel. Finally, LPG was estimated as the most economical fuel in Korean market.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.321-329
• /
• 2002

Clostridium butyricum, Lactobacillus amylophillus, Lactobacillus amylovorus, Lactobacillus acidophillus, AI-9 produced hydrogen and /or organic acids using glucose, lactose and starch at the anaerobic culture conditions. Cl. butyricum NCIB 9576 evolved 1,700 ml H2/L-culture broth and accumulated butyric acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and ethanol in its culture broth when lactose was used as a carbon source during 24 hrs of fermentation. L. amylovorus ATCC 33620 accumulated lactic and acetic acids and some reducing sugars when starch was used as a carbon source without hydrogen production. Instead of starch as a carbon source, L. amylovorus ATCC 33620 produced lactic acid from algal biomass during fermentation and the acid-heat or freeze-thaw pretreatment of algal biomass accelerate the lactic acid fermentation.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.259-268
• /
• 2017

This paper proposes a hydrogen-based social economy derived from fuel cells capable of replacing fossil fuels and resolving global warming, It thus provides an entry for developing economically feasible social configurations to make use of bio-hydrogen production systems. Bio-hydrogen production works from the principle that microorganisms decompose water in the process of converting CO to $CO_2$, thereby producing hydrogen. This study parts from an analysis of an existing 157-ton class NA1 bio-hydrogen reactor that identifies the state of feedstock and reactor conditions. Based on this analysis, we designed a 1-ton class bio-hydrogen reactor process simulator. We carried out thermal analyses of biological heat reactions, sensible heat, and heat radiation in order to calculate the thermal load of each system element. The reactor temperature changes were determined by modeling the feed mixing tank capacity, heat exchange, and heat storage tank. An analysis was carried out to confirm the condition of the feed mixing tank, heat exchanger, heat storage tank capacity as well as the operating conditions of the system so as to maintain the target reactor temperature.