Dark-fermentative hydrogen production from synthetic lignocellulose hydrolysate by a mixed bacterial culture: The relationship between hydraulic retention time and pH conditions

Abstract

This study assessed the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) ranging from 24 to 3 h on continuous dark-fermentative H₂ production in four bioreactors operated at pH 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5. A mixture of cellobiose, xylose and arabinose was used as the substrate. The highest hydrogen production rate between HRTs of 24 and 12 h was observed at pH 6.5, while at HRT below 12 h at pH 6.0. At a HRT of 3 h it reached 11.4 L H₂/L-d. Thus, the optimum pH for H₂ production depends on the HRT. The highest sugar utilization was obtained at pH 6.0 and 6.5 and decreased in the following order: cellobiose > xylose > arabinose. The pH conditions, in contrast to HRT, were found to have a significant influence on the bacterial composition. Low diversity in bacterial culture dominated by the Clostridium genus allows for stable and high H₂ production performance.

Keywords: Biohydrogen; Continuous stirred tank reactor; Dark fermentation; Hexose; Pentose.