Anaerobic bio-hydrogen production from ethanol fermentation: the role of pH

    Authors

    M. H. Hwang; N. J. Jang; S. H. Hyun;I. S. Kim

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Biotechnol.

    Keywords

    anaerobic bio-hydrogen production; pH effect; ethanol-acetate; fermentation; methanogenic activity; BACTERIA; KINETICS; WASTES; Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology

    Abstract

    Hydrogen was produced by an ethanol-acetate fermentation at pH of 5.0 +/- 0.2 and HRT of 3 days. The yield of hydrogen was 100-200 ml g Glu(-1) with a hydrogen content of 25-40%. This fluctuation in the hydrogen yield was attributed to the formation of propionate and the activity of hydrogen utilizing methanogens. The change in the operational pH for the inhibition of this methanogenic activity induced a change in the main fermentation pathway. In this study, the main products were butyrate, ethanol and propionate, in the pH ranges 4.0-4.5, 4.5-5.0 and 5.0-6.0, respectively. However, the activity of all the microorganisms was inhibited below pH 4.0. Therefore, pH 4.0 was regarded as the operational limit for the anaerobic bio-hydrogen production process. These results indicate that the pH plays an important role in determining the type of anaerobic fermentation pathway in anaerobic bio-hydrogen processes. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Biotechnology

    Volume

    111

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2004

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    297

    Last Page

    309

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000222954500008

    ISSN

    0168-1656

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