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Optimization and modeling of biohydrogen production by mixed bacterial cultures from raw cassava starch

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Abstract

The production of bio-hydrogen from raw cassava starch via a mixed-culture dark fermentation process was investigated. The production yield of H2 was optimized by adjusting the substrate concentration and the microorganism mixture ratio. A maximum H2 yield of 1.72 mol H2/mol glucose was obtained with a cassava starch concentration of 10 g/L to give a 90% utilization rate. The kinetics of the substrate utilization and of the generation of both hydrogen and volatile fatty acids were also investigated. The substrate utilization follows pseudo first order reaction kinetics, whereas the production of both H2 and the VFAs correlate with the Gompertz equation. These results show that cassava is a good candidate for the production of biohydrogen.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their thanks for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21525625), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2014CB745100), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, Grant No. 2013AA020302).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Shaojie Wang, Zhihong Ma, Ting Zhang, Meidan Bao & Haijia Su

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  1. Shaojie Wang
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  2. Zhihong Ma
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Correspondence to Haijia Su.

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Wang, S., Ma, Z., Zhang, T. et al. Optimization and modeling of biohydrogen production by mixed bacterial cultures from raw cassava starch. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 11, 100–106 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-017-1617-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-017-1617-3

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