Title

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

Authors

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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