Biological Hydrogen Production by Enriched Anaerobic Cultures in the Presence of Copper and Zinc

Abstract

Batch experiments were carried out to examine the productions of hydrogen and volatile fatty acids from glucose by enriched anaerobic culture in the presence of Cu and Zn. Results showed the specific hydrogen production rate was enhanced by the dosage of Cu at 50–100 mg/dm³ or the dosage of Zn at 10–250 mg/dm³, but was inhibited by Cu over 200 mg/dm³ or Zn at 500 mg/dm³. The hydrogen production yield was enhanced by Cu of 5–400 mg/dm³ or Zn of 5–500 mg/dm³. Productions of acetate and propionate were inhibited by Cu of 5–400 mg/dm³ or Zn of 5–500 mg/dm³. On the other hand, production of butyrate was stimulated, whereas production of ethanol was not affected. In terms of the C_I,50 values, Cu was more toxic than Zn. The modified Gompertz equation was able to properly describe the cumulative hydrogen production in the presence of Cu or Zn.

Keywords:

• Acidogenesis
• Copper
• Glucose
• Hydrogen production
• VFA
• Zinc

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20122203) and the Ministry of Science & Technology, China (Grant No. 2001AA515050) for the partial financial support of this study.