• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2006

Biological hydrogen production processes are more environment-friendly and less energy intensive than thermochemical and electrochemical processes. The biological process can be divided into two categories: photosynthetic hydrogen production and hydrogen production by dark fermentation. Photosynthetic process produces hydrogen mainly from water and reduces $CO_2$ simultaneously. Dark fermentation is a dark and anaerobic process that produces hydrogen by fermentative bacteria from organic carbon. The article presents a survey of biological hydrogen production processes.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.422-427
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• 2003

Rhodopseudomonas palustris P4 can produce $H_2$ either from CO by water-gas shift reaction or from various sugars by anaerobic fermentation. Fermentative $H_2$ production by P4 is fast, but its yield is relatively low due to the formation of various organic acids. In order to increase $H_2$ production yield from glucose, P4 was investigated for the photo-fermentation of acetate which is a major by-product of fermentative $H_2$ production. Experiments were performed in batch modes using both light-grown and dark-grown cells. When the dark-grown P4 was challenged with light and acetate, $H_2$ was produced with the consumption of acetate after a lag period of 25 h. $H_2$ production was inhibited when a nitrogen source, especially ammonium, is present. When the dark-fermentation broth containing acetate was adopted for photo-fermentation with light-grown cells, $H_2$ production and concomitant acetate consumption occurred without a lag period. The $H_2$ yield was estimated as 2.4 - 2.8 mol $H_2/mol$ acetate and the specific $H_2$ production rate was as 9.8 ml $H_2/g$ cell${\cdot}$h, The fact that a single strain can perform both dark- and light-fermentation gives a great advantage in process development Compared to a one-step dark-fermentation, the combined dark- and light-fermentation can increase the $H_2$ production yield on glucose by two-fold.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2014

This study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of dark fermentative $H_2$ production from microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) using batch reactors under mesophilic (25, $35^{\circ}C$) and thermophilic (45, $55^{\circ}C$) conditions. The $H_2$ yield and $H_2$ production rate increased with increasing temperature. The maximum $H_2$ yield and $H_2$ production rate were 56.77 mL $H_2/g$ dcw, 3.33 mL $H_2/g\;dcw{\cdot}h$ at $55^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activation energy calculated using Arrhenius equation was 36.24 kcal/mol, which was higher than that of dark $H_2$ fermentation of glucose by anaerobic mixed culture. Although the concentration of butyrate was maintained, the concentrations of lactate and acetate increased with increasing temperature. The $H_2$ yield was linearly proportional to acetate/ butyrate ratio.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.283-291
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• 2019

Fermentation of food waste in the presence of different concentrations of salt ($Na^+$) and ammonia was conducted to investigate the interrelation of $Na^+$ and ammonia content in bio-hydrogen production. Analysis of the experimental results showed that peak hydrogen production differed according to the ammonia and $Na^+$ concentration. The peak hydrogen production levels achieved were (97.60, 91.94, and 49.31) ml/g COD at (291.41, 768.75, and 1,037.89) mg-N/L of ammonia and (600, 1,000, and 4,000) $mg-Na^+/L$ of salt concentration, respectively. At peak hydrogen production, the ammonia concentration increased along with increasing salt concentration in the medium. This means that for peak hydrogen production, the C/N ratio decreased with increasing salt content in the medium. The butyrate/acetate (B/A) ratio was higher in proportion to the bio-hydrogen production (r-square: 0.71, p-value: 0.0006). Different concentrations of $Na^+$ and ammonia in the medium also produced diverse microbial communities. Klebsiella sp., Enterobacter sp., and Clostridium sp. were predominant with high bio-hydrogen production, while Lactococcus sp. was found with low bio-hydrogen production.

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

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.247-259
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• 2015

This study was performed to investigate the application of dark $H_2$ fermentation to two-stage bioprocesses for organic waste treatment and energy production. We reviewed information about the two-stage bioprocesses combining dark $H_2$ fermentation with $CH_4$ fermentation, photo $H_2$ fermentation, microbial fuel cells (MFCs), or microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) by using academic information databases and university libraries. Dark fermentative bacteria use organic waste as the sole source of electrons and energy, converting it into $H_2$. The reactions related to dark $H_2$ fermentation are rapid and do not require sunlight, making them useful for treating organic waste. However, the degradation is not complete and organic acids remain. Thus, dark $H_2$ fermentation should be combined with a post-treatment process, such as $CH_4$ fermentation, photo $H_2$ fermentation, MFCs, or MECs. So far, dark $H_2$ fermentation followed by $CH_4$ fermentation is a promising two-stage bioprocess among them. However, if the problems of manufacturing expenses, operational cost, scale-up, and practical applications will be solved, the two-stage bioprocesses combining dark $H_2$ fermentation with photo $H_2$ fermentation, MFCs, or MECs have also infinite potential in organic waste treatment and energy production. This paper demonstrated the feasibility of two-stage bioprocesses combining dark $H_2$ fermentation as a novel system for organic waste treatment and energy production.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.926-931
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• 2011

Among various techniques for hydrogen production from organic wastewater, a dark fermentation is considered to be the most feasible process due to the rapid hydrogen production rate. However, the main drawback of it is the low hydrogen production yield due to intermediate products such as organic acids. To improve the hydrogen production yield, a co-culture system of dark and photo fermentation bacteria was applied to this research. The maximum specific growth rate of R. sphaeroides was determined to be $2.93h^{-1}$ when acetic acid was used as a carbon source. It was quite high compared to that of using a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Acetic acid was the most attractive to the cell growth of R. sphaeroides, however, not less efficient in the hydrogen production. In the co-culture system with glucose, hydrogen could be steadily produced without any lag-phase. There were distinguishable inflection points in the accumulation of hydrogen production graph that resulted from the dynamic production of VFAs or consumption of it by the interaction between the dark and photo fermentation bacteria. Lastly, the hydrogen production rate of a repeated fed-batch run was $15.9mL-H_2/L/h$, which was achievable in the sustainable hydrogen production.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.278-286
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• 2023

The present work evaluated the production of biohydrogen under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions through dark fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) in batch mode using the design of experiment methodology. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to investigate the influence of the two significant parameters, POME concentration as substrate (5, 12.5, and 20 g/l), and volumetric substrate to inoculum ratio (1:1, 1:1.5, and 1:2, v/v.%), with inoculum concentration of 14.3 g VSS/l. All the experiments were analyzed at 37 ℃ and 55 ℃ at an incubation time of 24 h. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, hydrogen content (H₂%), and hydrogen yield (HY) at a substrate concentration of 12.5 g COD/l and S:I ratio of 1:1.5 in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions were obtained (27.3, 24.2%), (57.92, 66.24%), and (6.43, 12.27 ml H₂/g COD_rem), respectively. The results show that thermophilic temperature in terms of COD removal was more effective for higher COD concentrations than for lower concentrations. Optimum parameters projected by RSM with S:I ratio of 1:1.6 and POME concentration of 14.3 g COD/l showed higher results in both temperatures. It is recognized how RSM and optimization processes can predict and affect the process performance under different operational conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2012

In this study, dark fermentative hydrogen production (DFHP) from acid pretreated microalgal biomass was optimized with via statistical experimental design. Acid concentration and reaction time were varied from 0.1 to 3% (v/w) and 10 to 60 min with substrate concentration of 76 g dry cell weight (dcw)/L and initial pH of 7.4, respectively. During the fermentation, pH was not controlled. The optimal condition was found that at $H_{2}$ yield reached to 37.3 mL $H_{2}/g$ dcw at 1.2% HCl and 48 min. Through regression analysis, it was found that $H_{2}$ yield was well fitted by a quadratic polynomial equation ($R^{2}$=0.95). HCl concentration was the most significant factor influencing DFHP. The results of ANOVA verify that HCl concentration was the most significant factor influencing DFHP.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.326-332
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• 2011

The authors examined the effects of operating parameters on the $H_2$ production by dark fermentation of the wastewater generated from food waste recycling facilities, in short "food waste wastewater (FWW)". Central composite design based response surface methodology was applied to analyze the effect of initial pH (5.5-8.5) and substrate concentration (2-20 g Carbo. COD/L) on $H_2$ production. The experiment was conducted under mesophilic ($35^{\circ}C$) condition and a heat-treated ($90^{\circ}C$ for 20min)anaerobic digester sludge was used as a seeding source. Although there was a little difference in carbohydrate removal, $H_2$ yield was largely affected by the experimental conditions, from 0.38 to 1.77 mol $H_2$/mol $hexose_{added}$. By applying regression analysis, $H_2$ yield was well fitted based on the coded value to a second order polynomial equation (p = 0.0243): Y = $1.78-0.17X_1+0.30X_2+0.37X_1X_2-0.29X_1{^2}-0.35X_2{^2}$, where $X_1$, $X_2$, and Y are pH, substrate concentration (g Carbo. COD/L), and hydrogen yield (mol $H_2$/mol $hexose_{added}$), respectively. The 2-D response surface clearly showed a high inter-dependency between initial pH and substrate concentration, and the role of these two factors was to control the pH during fermentation. According to the statistical optimization, the optimum condition of initial pH and substrate concentration were 7.0 and 13.4 g Carbo. COD/L, respectively, under which predicted $H_2$ yield was 1.84 mol $H_2$/mol $hexose_{added}$. Microbial analysis using 16S rRNA PCR-DGGE showed that $Clostridium$ sp. such as $Clostridium$ $perfringens$, $Clostridium$ $sticklandii$, and $Clostridium$ $bifermentans$ were main $H_2$-producers.