Biohydrogen production from glucose using submerged dynamic filtration module: Metabolic product distribution and flux-based analysis

Abstract

A lab scale bioreactor with the submerged polyester mesh of pore size 100 μm, was used for biohydrogen production under mesophilic condition (35 °C). The reactor was continuously fed with glucose (15 g/L) for 90 days with a hydraulic retention time (HRT), ranging from 12 to 1.5 h. Peak hydrogen yield (HY) was achieved at 3 h HRT as 3.22 ± 0.22 mol H₂/mol glucose _added and the hydrogen production rate was achieved at 2 h HRT as 54.07 ± 3.69 L H₂/L-d, respectively. When HRT was reduced to 1.5 h, the hydrogen yield decreased to 1.04 ± 0.44 mol H₂/mol glucose _added. Washout of the hydrogen producing population and metabolic flux shift to non-hydrogen producing at 1.5 h HRT might have attributed to the lower performance of the bioreactor.

Keywords: Biohydrogen production; Metabolic flux; Polyester mesh; Submerged dynamic filtration module.