Revealing the roles of carbonized humic acid in biohydrogen production

Abstract

For low yield in dark fermentation (DF), in this study, the carbonized humic acid (CHA) was produced and added to DF for enhancing biohydrogen (bioH₂) yield at mesophilic condition. The highest bioH₂ yield was 151.08 mL/g glucose with the addition of CHA at 80 mg/L, which was 35.27% and 16.53% higher than those of 0 mg/L CHA and 80 mg/L mineral humic acid (MHA) groups, respectively. Electrons preferentially conducted via the butyrate pathway due to CHA amendments, which corresponded to the prediction of relevant functional genes. Furthermore, CHA possessed distinctive advantages over MHA, which acted as an electron shuttle to facilitate electron transfer, released metal ions as an essential signal mediator and favored the reduction of ferredoxin, obtaining more H₂. The use of CHA in the field of H₂-DF depicted the high-value utilization and industrial chain extension of MHA.

Keywords: Biohydrogen yield; Carbonized humic acid; Dark fermentation; Electron shuttles; Metabolic pathways.