Hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacteria using sewage sludge

Hydrogen producing bacterial cultures using heat treatment liquor extract of sewage sludge was examined. As a result, heat treatment liquor exract was proved to be a useful substrate for the hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain RV. Furthermore, continuous hydrogen production cultures in two culture systems ( the one stage culture system and two culture culture system) were investigated under limited nitrogen. Under the conditions of one stage culture system an average hydrogen production of 0.24 L/L/day had been observed for 60 days and under the conditions of two stage culture system an average hydrogen production of 0.7 L/L/day had been observed for 60 days. Outdoor batch cultures of Rb. sphaeroides strain RV were carried out from November 29 to December 26, 1995 in different reactor thickness without the control of culture temperature. During 30 days, total hydrogen production was 13 L/10 L of medium(5 cm of thickness). The results suggested the importance of culture medium temperature in hydrogen production.