Enhancement of biohydrogen production from sweet sorghum syrup by anaerobic seed sludge in an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor by nutrient and vitamin supplementations

Abstract

This study attempted to enhance biohydrogen production from sweet sorghum syrup by anaerobic seed sludge in a 1.3 L (1 L working volume) anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) by supplementation with nutrients and vitamins. Four treatments, i.e. nutrient and vitamin supplementation, only nutrient supplementation, no supplements and only vitamin supplementation, were conducted using 30 g/L sweet sorghum syrup as the substrate with 1.45 g/L FeSO ₄ in ASBR. The ASBR was operated at 24 hour hydraulic retention time at a controlled pH of 5.0. Results indicated that nutrient and vitamin supplementations could increase hydrogen production rate (HPR; 3.2 L H ₂/L− d ) and hydrogen yield (HY; 1.6 mol H ₂/mol hexose) up to 5 fold in comparison to the control (0.6 L H ₂/L− d and 0.34 mol H ₂/mol hexose, respectively). The polymerase chain reaction-denatured gradient gel electrophoresis analysis indicated that the predominant hydrogen producers were Clostridia species. The higher hydrogen production obtained from the treatments with nutrient supplementation might be due to the presence of Clostridia species together with Klebsiella sp. and Desulfovibrio sp. Lack of nutrients in treatments without the supplementation and in treatment where only vitamin solution was added could lead to the reduction of hydrogen production efficiency of Clostridia species. The presence of lactic acid bacteria, i.e. Enterococcus sp. and Lactobacillus sp., caused an adverse effect on hydrogen-producing bacteria, resulting in a low HPR and HY in these two treatments.

Keywords:

• anaerobic sequencing batch reactor
• sweet sorghum syrup
• nutrient
• vitamin

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Office of the Higher Education Commission, Thailand, for supporting P.S. by a grant funded under the program Strategic Scholarships for Frontier Research Network for the Join Ph.D. Program Thai Doctoral degree. Research fund was gratefully received from Fermentation Research Center for Value Added Agricultural Products and National Research University Project of Thailand, Office of the Higher Education Commission, through the Biofuels Research Cluster of Khon Kaen University.