International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.33, No.24, 7413-7418, 2008
Effects of pH value and substrate concentration on hydrogen production from the anaerobic fermentation of glucose
A series of batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of pH and glucose concentrations on biological hydrogen production by using the natural sludge obtained from the bed of a local river as inoculant. Batch experiments numbered series I and II were designed at an initial and constant pH of 5.0-7.0 with 1.0 increment and four different glucose concentrations (5.0, 7.5, 10 and 20 g glucose/L). The results showed that the optimal condition for anaerobic fermentative hydrogen production is 7.5 g glucose/L and constant pH 6.0 with a maximum H(2) production rate of 0.22 mol H(2) mol(-1) glucose h(-1), a cumulative H(2) yield of 1.83 mol H(2) mol(-1) glucose and a H(2) percentage of 63 in biogas. (C) 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.