Hydrogen production using Rhodobacter sphaeroides (O.U. 001) in a flat panel rocking photobioreactor

Abstract Photofermentative hydrogen production is challenged by the photobioreactor design that can overcome poor light penetration, agitation and temperature control. Flat panel reactors have been reported to have several advantages over other reactors. But they are limited to a suitable type of agitation system when using it for hydrogen production. The aim of the present study is to develop and improve a flat panel reactor that can overcome the problem of agitation with a rocking motion. Studies with Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U. 001 resulted in a cumulative hydrogen production of 492 ± 10 mL with maximum production rate of 11 mL L −1  h −1 , substrate (malic acid) conversion efficiency of 44.4% and light conversion efficiency of 3.31%. The mixing time of the reactor was found to be around 17 s with a power input of 100–275 W/m 3 . Though the entire reactor was in motion the energy spent for the rocking motion was found to be quite low.

[1]  Debabrata Das,et al.  Hydrogen production by biological processes: a survey of literature , 2001 .

[2]  Yuan-Kun Lee.  Enclosed bioreactors for the mass cultivation of photosynthetic microorganisms: the future trend , 1986 .

[3]  I. Eroglu,et al.  Hydrogen production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 in a flat plate solar bioreactor , 2008 .

[4]  Mi-Sun Kim,et al.  Comparison of H2 accumulation by Rhodobacter sphaeroides KD131 and its uptake hydrogenase and PHB synthase deficient mutant , 2006 .

[5]  Ufuk Gündüz,et al.  Improved hydrogen production by uptake hydrogenase deficient mutant strain of Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 , 2008 .

[6]  Harun Koku,et al.  Kinetics of biological hydrogen production by the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U. 001 , 2003 .

[7]  J. Miyake,et al.  Efficiency of light energy conversion to hydrogen by the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides , 1987 .

[8]  Regine Eibl,et al.  Design And Use Of The Wave Bioreactor For Plant Cell Culture , 2008 .

[9]  Jack Legrand,et al.  Numerical investigation of hydrodynamic and mixing conditions in a torus photobioreactor , 2006 .

[10]  E. Grima,et al.  Prediction of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration profiles in tubular photobioreactors for microalgal culture , 1999, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[11]  D. Das,et al.  Photofermentative hydrogen production using purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 in an annular photobioreactor: A case study , 2009 .

[12]  F. G. Acién,et al.  Characterization of a flat plate photobioreactor for the production of microalgae , 2008 .

[13]  Y. Asada,et al.  Light Penetration and Wavelength Effect on Photosynthetic Bacteria Culture for Hydrogen Production , 1998 .

[14]  Debabrata Das,et al.  Kinetics of two-stage fermentation process for the production of hydrogen , 2008 .

[15]  Regine Eibl,et al.  Bag bioreactor based on wave-induced motion: characteristics and applications. , 2009, Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology.

[16]  René H. Wijffels,et al.  A pneumatically agitated flat-panel photobioreactor with gas re-circulation: anaerobic photoheterotrophic cultivation of a purple non-sulfur bacterium , 2002 .

[17]  Clemens Posten,et al.  Closed photo-bioreactors as tools for biofuel production. , 2009, Current opinion in biotechnology.

[18]  R. Clayton.  SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF BACTERIOCHLOROPHYLLS IN VITRO AND IN VIVO * , 1966 .

[19]  D. Hall,et al.  Outdoor helical tubular photobioreactors for microalgal production: modeling of fluid-dynamics and mass transfer and assessment of biomass productivity. , 2003, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[20]  Yoshitomo Watanabe,et al.  Photosynthetic performance of a helical tubular photobioreactor incorporating the cyanobacterium spirulina platensis , 1995, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[21]  Yusuf Chisti,et al.  Mixing in bubble columns: a new approach for characterizing dispersion coefficients , 2004 .

[22]  I. Eroglu,et al.  Continuous Hydrogen Production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 , 1998 .

[23]  D. Hall,et al.  AN AUTOMATED HELICAL PHOTOBIOREACTOR INCORPORATING CYANOBACTERIA FOR CONTINUOUS HYDROGEN PRODUCTION , 1998 .

[24]  Anish Kumar,et al.  Hydrogen production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain O.U.001 using spent media of Enterobacter cloacae strain DM11 , 2005, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[25]  Debabrata Das,et al.  Recent trends on the development of photobiological processes and photobioreactors for the improvement of hydrogen production , 2010 .

[26]  E. Molina Grima,et al.  Influence of power supply in the feasibility of Phaeodactylum tricornutum cultures , 2004, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[27]  H Guterman,et al.  A flat inclined modular photobioreactor for outdoor mass cultivation of photoautotrophs , 2000, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[28]  Shigeru Uchiyama,et al.  Hydrogen Production by a Floating-Type Photobioreactor , 1998 .

[29]  A. Richmond,et al.  Microalgal biotechnology at the turn of the millennium: A personal view , 2000, Journal of Applied Phycology.

[30]  Yusuf Chisti,et al.  Bubble‐column and airlift photobioreactors for algal culture , 2000 .