Biological hydrogen production by anaerobic sludge at various temperatures

In this paper, experiments were conducted to investigate H2 production from glucose by mixed anaerobic cultures at various temperatures in the mesophilic range. Results showed that glucose degradation rate and efficiency, H2 yield, and growth rate of H2-producing bacteria all increased as the temperature increased from 33 to View the MathML source. However, the specific H2 production rate increased with increasing temperature from 33 to View the MathML source, then decreased as the temperature was further increased to View the MathML source. The distribution of aqueous products was also greatly influenced by temperature variation. H2 yield and growth rate of H2-producing cultures had a linear relationship with temperature. A modified Gompertz model was able to adequately describe the H2 production and microbial growth in the mesophilic range. The activation energies for H2 production and microbial growth were estimated as 107.66 and 204.77 kJ/mol, respectively