Combination of dark- and photo-fermentation to improve hydrogen production from Arthrospira platensis wet biomass with ammonium removal by zeolite

Arthrospira platensis wet biomass was subjected to microwave-assisted dilute H2SO4 pretreatment to improve saccharification by hydrolysis with glucoamylase and hydrogen production from dark-fermentation. When the hydrolyzed biomass from A. platensis was inoculated with hydrogenogens (heat-treated anaerobic sludge) to produce hydrogen during dark-fermentation, the maximum hydrogen yield of 96.6 ml H-2/g DW was obtained. Because high concentration of NH4+ (31.6-56.5 mM) in the residual solution (also containing acetate and butyrate) obtained from dark-fermentation can significantly inhibit the activities of photosynthetic bacteria in sequential photo-fermentation, a modified zeolite was used to extract NH4+ by ion exchange to reduce the NH4+ content to 2.2-2.7 mM (91.8%-95.8% of NH4+ removal efficiency). The treated residual solution was reused for hydrogen production in sequential photo-fermentation. The maximum hydrogen yield from A. platensis wet biomass was significantly enhanced from 96.6 to 337.0 ml H-2/g DW using a combination of dark- and photo-fermentation. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.