• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.451-457
• /
• 2011

Purple non-sulfur (PNS) bacterium $Rhodobacter$ $sphaeroides$ KD131 was studied with the aim of achieving maximum hydrogen production using various carbon and nitrogen sources at different pH conditions. Cells grew well and produced hydrogen using $(NH_4){_2}SO_4$ or glutamate as a nitrogen source in combination with a carbon substrate, succinate or malate. During 48h of photo-heterotrophic fermentation under 110$W/m^2$ illumination using a halogen lamp at $30^{\circ}C$, 67% of 30mM succinate added was degraded and the hydrogen yield was estimated as 3.29mol $H^2$/mol-succinate. However, less than 30% of formate was consumed and hydrogen was not produced due to a lack of genes coding for the formate-hydrogen lyase complex of strain KD131. Initial cell concentrations of more than 0.6g dry cell weight/L-culture broth were not favorable for hydrogen evolution by cell aggregation, thus leading to substrate and light unavailability. In a modified Sistrom's medium containing 30mM succinate with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 12.85 (w/w), glutamate produced 1.40-fold more hydrogen compared to ammonium sulfate during the first 48h. However, ammonium sulfate was 1.78-fold more effective for extended cultivation of 96h. An initial pH range from 6.0 to 9.0 influenced cell growth and hydrogen production, and maintenance of pH 7.5 during photofermentation led to the increased hydrogen yield.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.703-712
• /
• 2010

This study performed to extract operation factors of major organic wastes, which were food wastes and waste activated sludge generated in industries in order to use them as a substrate for bio-H2 production. According to the results of experimental analysis for hydrogen production capacity by various organic concentrations, the hydrogen production yield was the highest at 80 g/L, and the efficiency was improved by the pretreatment of waste activated sludge (acid treatment, alkali treatment). Hydrogen production efficiency was improved by mixing food wastes and waste activated sludge if waste activated sludge was below than 30%, however, it was decreased when it was more than 50%. The impacts of heavy metals on the hydrogen production shows that the inhibition level depends on the concentration of Cr, Zn, and Cu, Fe was able to enhance the hydrogen production.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.102-108
• /
• 2011

Characteristics of hydrogen production from various food wastes in anaerobic batch reactors were evaluated to assess the energy potential of organic wastes. Organic wastes which were used in this study were scallion as vegetable, apple as fruit, rice as grain and pork as meat. Ultimate hydrogen yield of scallion, apple, rice and pork were 0.46, 0.47, 0.62 and $0.05mol\;H_2/mol\;hexose$, respectively. On the other hand, hydrogen production rates of scallion, apple, rice and pork were 0.013, 0.021, 0.014 and $0.005mol\;H_2/mol\;hexose/h$, respectively. These results indicated that anaerobic hydrogen fermentation from food waste except for meat was effective in removing organic material as well as producing renewable energy. Volatile fatty acids increased as hydraulic retention time was increased. In the hydrogen fermentation, acidification degree of rice was measured as the highest rate of 75.8% whereas pork was found as the lowest rate of 35.2%.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.2 no.4 s.8
• /
• pp.70-77
• /
• 2006

The butane decomposition over the catalyst is an attractive method for the hydrogen production. The objective of the work was investigated the catalysis of carbon black in butane decomposition reaction. The Butane decomposition was performed over carbon black catalyst in a range of $500-1100^{\circ}C$. The butane conversion of thermal decomposition and catalytic decomposition were increased with increasing the reaction temperature The butane conversion of the thermal decomposition was higher than the butane conversion of the catalytic decomposition. Hydrogen and methane were mostly observed in the butane decomposition over $1000^{\circ}C$. Especially, the hydrogen yield was steadily increased with raising the reaction temperature, It could be known that the hydrogen yield of the catalytic decomposition was higher than one of the thermal cracking because the hydrogen productivity was improved by the catalyst. The deactivation of the catalyst was not observed in the reactivity test. The surface and crystalline of the fresh and used catalysts were characterized by TEM, BET surface area and XRD analysis, respectively. The fresh carbon black particles had mostly smoothly round-shaped surfaces. In the surface of the carbon black after the reaction, the deposited carbon was formed as the protrusion-shaped carbon and the cone-shaped. The proper peaks of carbon black appeared in XRD analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.57-63
• /
• 2011

Development of alternative energy is needed as the fossil is started to be exhausted. This alternative energy should be environmental friendly and renewable. Currently, the alternative energy which gets the most attraction is hydrogen. Hydrogen can be produced by a number of different processes. Among those methods, hydrogen production in biological way is considered as the most environmental friendly method. However, productivity of biological hydrogen production is not good enough to be commercialized yet. Thus, many researchers are trying to improve productivity and yield of biohydrogen production. Here, progress in the diverse developmental approaches on biological hydrogen production, is reviewed.

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

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.468-474
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of mesophilic fermentative $H_2$ production from food waste which was treated by food waste disposer. It was found that $H_2$ yield and lag phase were affected by particle size of food waste. The $H_2$ yield decreased with increasing particle size while lag phase increased. The maximum $H_2$ yield was found $0.584{\pm}0.03$ mol $H_2$/mol hexose at particle size smaller than 0.30 mm. The $H_2$ production rate was also affected by chemical composition of food waste. The $H_2$ production rate linearly decreased with increasing proteins to carbohydrates ratio(P/C ratio) where the maximum value was $0.031{\pm}0.006$ mol $H_2$/mol hexose h at 0.17.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2008

Fermentative $H_2$ production was studied using microbial consortia isolated from heat-treated ($90{\circ}C$, 20 min) sewage sludge. Important parameters investigated were carbon(C) and nitrogen(N)-sources, C/N ratio, phosphate concentration, pH and temperature during anaerobic cultivation in serum bottles. Starch, ribose, sucrose and glucose were good C-sources for the culture growth and $H_2$ production. Yeast extract was better N-source than $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ or peptone when individually added to the synthetic media, however the combination of above three N-sources exhibited the additional effect for cell growth and $H_2$ evolution. Addition of 100 mM phosphate as a buffering agent prevented the rapid pH drop during the cultivation. The optimum initial pH for the cell growth was at 7.0, whereas $H_2$ production was observed at pH 5.5. Optimum temperature for the cell growth and $H_2$ production was $37{\circ}C$. Initial C/N ratio of 1.22 in the media using glucose and yeast extract as the C- and N-sources, respectively, showed the $H_2$ yield 1.0 mol $H_2$/mol glucose.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2012.03a
• /
• pp.260-266
• /
• 2012

Syngas and hydrogen from the $CeO_2/ZrO_2$ coated foam devices were investigated under simulated solar radiation. The $CeO_2/ZrO_2$ coated SiC, Ni and Cu foam device were prepared using drop-coating method. Syngas production step was performed at $900^{\circ}C$, and hydrogen production process was performed for ten repeated cycles to compare the CeO2 conversion in syngas production step, $H_2$ yield in hydrogen production step and cycle reproducibility. The produced syngas had the $H_2$/CO ratio of 2, which was suitable for methanol synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. In addition, syngas and hydrogen production process is one of the promising chemical pathway for storage and transportation of solar heat by converting solar energy to chemical energy. After ten cycles of redox reaction, the $CeO_2/ZrO_2$ was analyzed using XRD pattern and SEM image in order to characterize the physical and chemical change of metal oxide at the high temperature.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.123-131
• /
• 2007

Effect of nitrogen-load condition on hydrogen ($H_2$) production and bacterial community in a continuous anaerobic hydrogen fermentation were investigated. The slight $H_2$ production on extremely low nitrogen-load condition (C/N ratio: 180) at the start-up period. The highest $H_2$ production was obtained when the C/N ratio was 36, the $H_2$ production yield ($mol-H_2/mol-glucose$) reached to 1.7, and it was indicated that Clostridium pasteurianum mainly contributed to the $H_2$ production. The $H_2$ production was decreased on both the lower (C/N: 72) and higher (C/N: 18) nitrogen-load conditions. The excess nitrogen-load was not always suitable for the hydrogen production. The fluctuation of $H_2$ production seemed to be caused by a change in the bacterial community according to the nitrogen-load condition, while a recovery of $H_2$ productivity was possible by a control of nitrogen-load condition through the bacterial community change. When the nitrogen-load condition was not suitable for hydrogen production, the lactic acid concentration was increased and also lactic acid bacteria were definitely detected, which suggested that the competition between hydrogen fermentator and lactic acid producer was occurred. These results demonstrated that the nitrogen-load condition affect on the $H_2$ productivity through the change of bacterial community in anaerobic hydrogen fermentation.