Cladophora sp. as a sustainable feedstock for dark fermentative biohydrogen production

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2022-04, Vol.47 (34), p.15410-15418
• Main Authors: Taşkan, Banu, Köroğlu, Emre Oğuz, Taşkan, Ergin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biohydrogen production; Cladophora sp; Dark fermentation
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.03.024

Macroalgae are rich in carbohydrates which can be used as a promising substrate for fermentative biohydrogen production. In this study, Cladophora sp. biomass was fermented for biohydrogen production at various inoculum/substrate (I/S) ratios against a control of inoculum without substrate in laboratory-scale batch reactors. The biohydrogen production yield ranged from 40.8 to 54.7 ml H2/g-VS, with the I/S ratio ranging from 0.0625 to 4. The results indicated that low I/S ratios caused the overloaded accumulation of metabolic products and a significant pH decrease, which negatively affected hydrogen production bacteria's metabolic activity, thus leading to the decrease of hydrogen fermentation efficiency. The overall results demonstrated that Cladophora sp. biomass is an efficient fermentation feedstock for biohydrogen production. [Display omitted] •Cladophora sp. macroalgae was used as feedstock for biohydrogen production.•H2 production performance of various I/S ratios was investigated.•The maximum hydrogen yield of 54.7 ml H2/g VS was achieved.•Mathematical models were used to determine kinetic parameters of H2 production.