Product Inhibition of Biological Hydrogen Production in Batch Reactors

Subhashis Das, Rajnish Kaur Calay, Ranjana Chowdhury, Kaustav Nath and Fasil Ejigu Eregno
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Subhashis Das: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway
Rajnish Kaur Calay: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway
Ranjana Chowdhury: Department of Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Kaustav Nath: Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India
Fasil Ejigu Eregno: Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: In this paper, the inhibitory effects of added hydrogen in reactor headspace on fermentative hydrogen production from acidogenesis of glucose by a bacterium, Clostridium acetobutylicum , was investigated experimentally in a batch reactor. It was observed that hydrogen itself became an acute inhibitor of hydrogen production if it accumulated excessively in the reactor headspace. A mathematical model to simulate and predict biological hydrogen production process was developed. The Monod model, which is a simple growth model, was modified to take inhibition kinetics on microbial growth into account. The modified model was then used to investigate the effect of hydrogen concentration on microbial growth and production rate of hydrogen. The inhibition was moderate as hydrogen concentration increased from 10% to 30% ( v/v ). However, a strong inhibition in microbial growth and hydrogen production rate was observed as the addition of H 2 increased from 30% to 40% ( v/v ). Practically, an extended lag in microbial growth and considerably low hydrogen production rate were detected when 50% ( v/v ) of the reactor headspace was filled with hydrogen. The maximum specific growth rate (µ max ), substrate saturation constant (ks), a critical hydrogen concentration at which microbial growth ceased (H 2 *) and degree of inhibition were found to be 0.976 h −1 , 0.63 ± 0.01 gL, 24.74 mM, and 0.4786, respectively.

Keywords: hydrogen; reactor headspace; product inhibition; kinetic modelling; clostridium acetobutylicum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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