Simultaneous metabolism of benzoate and photobiological hydrogen production by Lyngbya sp.

• Lyngbya sp. can generate H2 in the presence of benzoate.
• In H2 production test, 600 mg/L benzoate was depleted within 64 h.
• Lyngbya sp. has been proved as an excellent microbial species for clean energy production and hazardous pollutants removal.

Cyanobacteria are an inexpensive and sustainable source of photobiological H2 production due to their simple nutritional conditions. Combination of toxic contaminant degradation with H2 production is a promising approach in wastewater treatment. This study demonstrated that Lyngbya sp., a filamentous cyanobacterium, can generate H2 in the presence of benzoate which is a central intermediate during the anaerobic degradation of many aromatic compounds. The highest H2 production rate of 17.05 μmol H2/g Chla/h was obtained in the second cycle and 600 mg/L benzoate was depleted within 64 h in H2 production test. The strain has shown a higher H2-producing capacity, which was comparable to those of certain noted strains such as N2-fixing filamentous Anabaena variabilis PK84 and non-N2-fixing filamentous Microcystis PCC 7806. The co-metabolism of benzoate for H2 production by Lyngbya sp. makes it an interesting model strain for clean energy production and hazardous pollutant removal.

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