Carrier modification and its application in continuous photo-hydrogen production using anaerobic fluidized bed photo-reactor

Abstract

Poor hydrogen production performance and low biomass limit the practical application of photo-fermentation. To improve the immobilization capability of bacteria and hydrogen production performance, activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were modified by acidic, alkaline, and neutral solutions. The modified ACFs were further used in the anaerobic fluidized bed photo-reactor (AFBPR) to explore its continuous operation characteristics. Results showed that among the three reagents, nitric acid was the most efficient for ACF modification, and the maximum yield and production rate of hydrogen increased between about 33.6% and 65.8% compared to the control. Furthermore, with the optimal influent glutamate concentration (10 mmol L-1) and light intensity (4000 lux), the AFBPR gave efficient and stable performance with hydrogen yield of 2.26 mol H2 mol-1 acetate and hydrogen production rate of 25.8 mL L-1 h-1. The results showed the potential of using the AFBPR with HNO3-modified ACF carriers for the large-scale production of bio-hydrogen. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.