Hydrogen Photoproduction by Rhodopseudomonas palustris 42OL Cultured at High Irradiance under a Semicontinuous Regime
The main goal of this study was to increase the hydrogen production rate improving the culture technique and the photobioreactor performances. Experiments were carried out at a constant culture temperature of 30°C and at an average irradiance of 480 W m−2 using a cylindrical photobioreactor (4.0 cm,...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Hindawi Limited
2012-01-01
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Series: | Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/590693 |
Summary: | The main goal of this study was to increase the hydrogen production rate improving the culture technique and the photobioreactor performances. Experiments were carried out at a constant culture temperature of 30°C and at an average irradiance of 480 W m−2 using a cylindrical photobioreactor (4.0 cm, internal diameter). The culture technique, namely, the semicontinuous regime for growing Rhodopseudomonas palustris 42OL made it possible to achieve a very high daily hydrogen production rate of 594 ± 61 mL (H2) L−1 d−1. This value, never reported for this strain, corresponds to about 25 mL (H2) L−1 h−1, and it was obtained when the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was of 225 hours. Under the same growth conditions, a very high biomass production rate (496 ± 45 mg (dw) L−1 d−1) was also achieved. Higher or lower HRTs caused a reduction in both the hydrogen and the biomass production rates. The malic-acid removal efficiency (MAre) was always higher than 90%. The maximal hydrogen yield was 3.03 mol H2 mol MA−1 at the HRT of 360 hours. The highest total energy conversion efficiency was achieved at the HRT of 225 hours. |
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ISSN: | 1110-7243 1110-7251 |