Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
681757 | Bioresource Technology | 2011 | 6 Pages |
This study evaluates the microbial metabolism and energy demand in fermentative biohydrogen production using Clostridium tyrobutyricum FYa102 at different hydraulic retention times (HRT) over a period of 1–18 h. The hydrogen yield shows a positive correlation with the butyrate yield, the B/A ratio, and the YH2/2(YHAc+YHBu)YH2/2(YHAc+YHBu) ratio, but a negative correlation with the lactate yield. A decrease in HRT, which is accompanied by an increased biomass growth, tends to decrease the B/A ratio, due presumably to a higher energy demand for microbial growth. The production of lactate at a low HRT, however, may involve an unfavorable change in e− equiv distribution to result in a reduced hydrogen production. Finally, the relatively high hydrogen yields observed in the bioreactor with the peptone addition may be ascribed to the utilization of peptone as an additional energy and/or amino-acid source, thus reducing the glucose demand for biomass growth during the hydrogen production process.