Biohydrogen production from hyperthermophilic anaerobic digestion of fruit and vegetable wastes in seawater : simplification of the culture medium of Thermotoga maritima

Biohydrogen production by the hyperthermophilic and halophilic bacterium T. maritima, using fruit and vegetable wastes as the carbon and energy sources was studied. Batch fermentation cultures showed that the use of a culture medium containing natural seawater and fruit and vegetable wastes can replace certain components (CaCl2, MgCl2, Balch's oligo-elements, yeast extract, KH2PO4 and K2HPO4) present in basal medium. However, a source of nitrogen and sulfur remained necessary for biohydrogen production. When fruit and vegetable waste collected from a wholesale market landfill was used, no decreases in total H-2 production (139 mmol L-1) or H-2 yield (3.46 mol mol(-1)) was observed