Evaluation of different supplementary nutrients for enhanced biohydrogen production by Enterobacter aerogenes NRRL B 407 using waste derived crude glycerol

Crude glycerol (CG) has several advantages over a range of conventional substrates used for biohydrogen production by Enterobacter aerogenes NRRL B 407. Meanwhile, high process cost due to requirement of expensive supplementary media component is a concern. Therefore, different less expensive (or wastes) materials have been evaluated as supplementary nutrient for H2 production by CG (meat processing and restaurant waste based biodiesel derived) bioconversion. Among the materials selected, slaughterhouse liquid waste (SL), brewery waste biomass (BWB) and urea was found to improve the production by 18.81 ± 3.56, 27.30 ± 3.54 and 38.57 ± 3.66%, respectively. Further, in the case of urea (10 mg/L), cumulative production as high as 116.41 ± 3.72 mmol H2/L media has been achieved; which is comparable to other reports available on CG bioconversion. Thus, present study demonstrates successful replacement of large amount (∼5–6 g/L) of expensive nutrients/buffering agents by negligible amount (∼10 mg/L) of different waste materials, without compromising the cumulative H2 yield. Further, the strain used in the present study was found to grow at an acidic pH as low as 3.3, indicating its prospective application for dark fermentative H2 production.

► H2 production from meat processing and restaurant waste based crude glycerol.
► Better H2 yield without expensive nutrients/buffering agents.
► 38.57 ± 3.66% improvement in H2 production with a maximum rate of 965 ± 35 mL/L/d.
► Highly acid tolerant microbial strain efficiently producing H2 at low pH.