Photoinduced biohydrogen production from saccharide mixture with the photosensitization of Mg chlorophyll a from green plant

Here, we developed a photoinduced biohydrogen production system coupling saccharide hydrolysis with hydrogen production. A mixture of three different saccharides (sucrose, maltose, and cellobiose) was hydrolyzed by three enzymes (invertase, glucoamylase, and cellulase) and glucose dehydrogenase (GDH). Hydrogen production was performed with colloidal platinum as a catalyst, using visible light-induced photosensitization of Mg chlorophyll a (Mg Chl a). Irradiation of the sample solution containing the saccharides, enzymes, GDH, NAD+, Mg Chl a, methyl viologen (MV2+), and colloidal platinum resulted in continuous hydrogen production. Approximately 2.9 μmol hydrogen was produced after 2 h of irradiation, and the total yield was approximately 8.8%.