A Survey on Various Carbon Sources for Biological Hydrogen Production via the Water-Gas Reaction Using a Photosynthetic Bacterium (Rhodospirillum rubrum)

Growth model of anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria on various carbon sources for fermentative hydrogen production growth from synthesis gas was investigated. It was found that the rate of utilization of carbon monoxide (CO) by Rhodospirillum rubrum on acetate was growth related. A biologically based water-gas shift reaction was catalyzed by the specific bacterium at ambient temperature to convert the gaseous substrate, CO to carbon dioxide, while simultaneously convert water to a useful product, molecular hydrogen. Experiments were conducted to measure the specific CO uptake and hydrogen production rates. Also, effect of initial organic substrate concentration was investigated. The microorganism was grown on formate, acetate, malate, glucose, fructose, and sucrose. The modified Teissier and Contois equations were further developed for the growth model based on existing theory and experimental data. It was also found that the improvement in the yield of hydrogen production using acetate as a suitable substrate for R. rubrum, resulted in 0.87 mmole H 2 /mmole CO. The obtained hydrogen yield of R. rubrum on acetate was 87% of stoichiometric conversion. The main objective of this research was to demonstrate that the biological hydrogen production may efficiently be implemented as an alternative energy for fossil fuel replacement in the future.

[1]  Martin Winkler,et al.  (Fe)-hydrogenases in green algae: photo-fermentation and hydrogen evolution under sulfur deprivation , 2002 .

[2]  René H. Wijffels,et al.  Photobiological hydrogen production: photochemical e)ciency and bioreactor design , 2002 .

[3]  R Hotchkiss,et al.  Coal gasification technologies , 2003 .

[4]  Ji-Young Park,et al.  A new chemoheterotrophic bacterium catalyzing water-gas shift reaction , 1999, Biotechnology Letters.

[5]  J. Nielsen,et al.  Bioreaction Engineering Principles , 1994, Springer US.

[6]  Edgar C. Clausen,et al.  Kinetics of light limited growth and biological hydrogen production from carbon monoxide and water by Rhodospirillum rubrum , 1993 .

[7]  Galeno D. Griselda,et al.  Screening of white-rot fungi for efficient decolourization of bleach pulp effluents , 1990, Biotechnology Letters.

[8]  I. Eroglu,et al.  Aspects of the metabolism of hydrogen production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides , 2002 .

[9]  Chun-Chin Wang,et al.  Photohydrogen production using purple nonsulfur bacteria with hydrogen fermentation reactor effluent , 2002 .

[10]  Mohammad Asadullah,et al.  Biomass Gasification to Hydrogen and Syngas at Low Temperature: Novel Catalytic System Using Fluidized-Bed Reactor , 2002 .

[11]  A. Carel.  A spectrophotometric determination of malic acid in the presence of glycolic, glyoxylic and diglycolic acids , 1971 .

[12]  J. Gaddy,et al.  Evaluation of mass-transfer and kinetic parameters forRhodospirillum rubrum in a continuous stirred tank reactor , 1993 .

[13]  Byung Hong Kim,et al.  Use of acetate for enrichment of electrochemically active microorganisms and their 16S rDNA analyses. , 2003, FEMS microbiology letters.

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

[15]  J. R. Kim,et al.  Hydrogen production by a new chemoheterotrophic bacterium Citrobacter sp. Y19 , 2002 .

[16]  Toshiro Hirai,et al.  Enhancement of hydrogen production by a photosynthetic bacterium mutant with reduced pigment. , 2002, Journal of bioscience and bioengineering.

[17]  J. Sumner.  THE ESTIMATION OF SUGAR IN DIABETIC URINE, USING DINITROSALICYLIC ACID , 1924 .

[18]  Yasuo Asada,et al.  Biotechnological hydrogen production" research for efficient light energy conversion , 1999 .

[19]  P. Maness,et al.  BIOLOGICAL HYDROGEN FROM FUEL GASES , 2002 .

[20]  D. H. Kim,et al.  Formulation of defined media for carbon monoxide fermentation by Eubacterium limosum KIST612 and the growth characteristics of the bacterium. , 1999, Journal of bioscience and bioengineering.

[21]  T NASH,et al.  The colorimetric estimation of formaldehyde by means of the Hantzsch reaction. , 1953, The Biochemical journal.

[22]  E. Wolfrum,et al.  Bioreactor Development for Biological Hydrogen Production , 2002 .

[23]  M. Monsigny,et al.  Colorimetric determination of neutral sugars by a resorcinol sulfuric acid micromethod. , 1988, Analytical biochemistry.

[24]  G De Feo,et al.  Energy from gasification of solid wastes. , 2003, Waste management.

[25]  Yasuo Asada,et al.  Photosynthetic bacterial hydrogen production combined with a fuel cell , 1999 .

[26]  P. Maness,et al.  BIOLOGICAL H 2 FROM FUEL GASES AND FROM H2O , 1999 .

[27]  R. Basu,et al.  WATER-GAS SHIFT REACTION FOR SYNTHESIS GAS: A BIOLOGICAL ROUTE , 1995 .