Fundamentals of the fermentative production of hydrogen.

The molecular details behind hydrogen evolution during fermentation are reviewed. Hydrogen is evolved by hydrogenase, a class of enzymes containing complex metallo-centers. In most cases, sugars are degraded to pyruvate which in turn is converted to a variety of fermentation products. Various pathways leading to fermentative hydrogen generation are outlined and discussed. Thermophilic fermentations have higher yields than mesophilic ones. Yields are thought to be limited to 4H2 per glucose under standard conditions. The highlights of some actual studies of fermentations are presented and ways of potentially increasing hydrogen yields are discussed. It may be possible to achieve higher hydrogen yields by carrying out fermentations under microaerobic conditions where limited respiration could provide additional reducing power to drive the nearly complete conversion of sugar substrates to hydrogen.

[1]  J. Winter,et al.  Acetothermus paucivorans, gen. nov., sp. nov., a Strictly Anaerobic, Thermophilic Bacterium from Sewage Sludge, Fermenting Hexoses to Acetate, CO2 and H2 , 1988 .

[2]  M Stephenson,et al.  Hydrogenase: a bacterial enzyme activating molecular hydrogen: The properties of the enzyme. , 1931, The Biochemical journal.

[3]  Yutaka Nakashimada,et al.  Enhanced hydrogen production in altered mixed acid fermentation of glucose by Enterobacter aerogenes , 1997 .

[4]  Jo-Shu Chang,et al.  H2 production with anaerobic sludge using activated-carbon supported packed-bed bioreactors , 2004, Biotechnology Letters.

[5]  B J Lemon,et al.  X-ray crystal structure of the Fe-only hydrogenase (CpI) from Clostridium pasteurianum to 1.8 angstrom resolution. , 1998, Science.

[6]  Tatsushi Kawai,et al.  Biological production of hydrogen from cellulose by natural anaerobic microflora , 1995 .

[7]  M. P. Bryant,et al.  Glucose Fermentation Products of Ruminococcus albus Grown in Continuous Culture with Vibrio succinogenes: Changes Caused by Interspecies Transfer of H2 , 1973, Journal of bacteriology.

[8]  S. Albracht,et al.  Carbon Monoxide and Cyanide as Intrinsic Ligands to Iron in the Active Site of [NiFe]-Hydrogenases , 1999, The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[9]  H. Fang,et al.  Microbial diversity of a mesophilic hydrogen-producing sludge , 2001, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[10]  T. Schäfer,et al.  Maltose fermentation to acetate, CO2 and H2 in the anaerobic hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus: evidence for the operation of a novel sugar fermentation pathway , 1992, Archives of Microbiology.

[11]  J. Andrade,et al.  Regulation of Carbon and Electron Flow inClostridium butyricum VPI 3266 Grown on Glucose-Glycerol Mixtures , 2001, Journal of bacteriology.

[12]  J. Meyer,et al.  Classification and phylogeny of hydrogenases. , 2001, FEMS microbiology reviews.

[13]  C-C. Chen,et al.  Kinetics of hydrogen production with continuous anaerobic cultures utilizing sucrose as the limiting substrate , 2001, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[14]  R. Thauer,et al.  Energy conservation in chemotrophic anaerobic bacteria , 1977, Bacteriological reviews.

[15]  A. Harden.  LXIV.—The chemical action of Bacillus coli communis and similar organisms on carbohydrates and allied compounds , 1901 .

[16]  W. Hagen,et al.  A low-spin iron with CN and CO as intrinsic ligands forms the core of the active site in [Fe]-hydrogenases. , 1998, European journal of biochemistry.

[17]  W. H. Jollyman,et al.  XL.—The bacterial decomposition of formic acid into carbon dioxide and hydrogen , 1901 .

[18]  Hong Liu,et al.  Effect of pH on hydrogen production from glucose by a mixed culture. , 2002, Bioresource technology.

[19]  A. Stams,et al.  Formation of l-alanine as a reduced end product in carbohydrate fermentation by the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus , 1994, Archives of Microbiology.

[20]  Patrick C. Hallenbeck,et al.  Biological hydrogen production; fundamentals and limiting processes , 2002 .

[21]  P. Janssen,et al.  Heterotrophic sulfur reduction by Thermotoga sp. strain FjSS3.B1. , 1992, FEMS microbiology letters.

[22]  M. Nienoord,et al.  Energy aspects of biological hydrogen production in high rate bioreactors operated in the thermophilic temperature range , 2002 .

[23]  Chiu-Yue Lin,et al.  Carbon/nitrogen-ratio effect on fermentative hydrogen production by mixed microflora , 2004 .

[24]  P. Janssen,et al.  Glucose catabolism by Spirochaeta thermophila RI 19.B1 , 1992, Journal of bacteriology.

[25]  M. Tomiyama,et al.  Construction and characterization of fermentative lactate dehydrogenase Escherichia coli mutant and its potential for bacterial hydrogen production , 1999 .

[26]  O. Kandler,et al.  Acetomicrobium flavidum, gen. nov., sp. nov., a thermophilic, anaerobic bacterium from sewage sludge, forming acetate, CO2 and H2 from Glucose , 1984 .

[27]  N. Mizukami,et al.  Hydrogen production from continuous fermentation of xylose during growth of Clostridium sp. strain No.2 , 1995 .

[28]  P. Schönheit,et al.  Glucose fermentation to acetate, CO2 and H2 in the anaerobic hyperthermophilic eubacterium Thermotoga maritima: involvement of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway , 1994, Archives of Microbiology.

[29]  J. Fontecilla-Camps,et al.  [3Fe-4S] to [4Fe-4S] cluster conversion in Desulfovibrio fructosovorans [NiFe] hydrogenase by site-directed mutagenesis. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[30]  F. Rainey,et al.  Isolation and characterization of an obligately anaerobic, polysaccharolytic, extremely thermophilic member of the genus Spirochaeta , 1991, Archives of Microbiology.

[31]  D. L. Hawkes,et al.  Enhancement of hydrogen production from glucose by nitrogen gas sparging. , 2000 .

[32]  T. Noike,et al.  Hydrogen fermentation of organic municipal wastes , 2000 .

[33]  You-Kwan Oh,et al.  Fermentative biohydrogen production by a new chemoheterotrophic bacterium Citrobacter sp. Y19 , 2003 .

[34]  Debabrata Das,et al.  Redirection of biochemical pathways for the enhancement of H2 production by Enterobacter cloacae , 2001, Biotechnology Letters.

[35]  Ahmadun Fakhru’l-Razi,et al.  Biological production of hydrogen from glucose by natural anaerobic microflora , 2004 .

[36]  Akiko Miya,et al.  Studies on hydrogen production by continuous culture system of hydrogen-producing anaerobic bacteria , 1997 .