Oliveira T., Bessa L., Oliveira F., Ferreira J., Batista F., Cardoso V., 2014, Insights into the Effect of Carbon and Nitrogen Source on Hydrogen Production by Photosynthetic Bacteria, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 38, 367-372.
Nowadays the growing interest in alternative fuels is motivated by several important considerations; since the most alternative fuels are not derived from finite fossil-fuel resources and generally produce fewer vehicle emissions that contribute to smog, air pollution or global warming. Within this context hydrogen production could highlight. It has been conventionally produced through thermochemical and electrochemical processes; although, photofermentation by Purple Non-Sulfur Bacteria (PNS) is a major field of research through which the overall yield for biological hydrogen production can be improved by optimization of culture conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to evaluate the influence of different carbon (organic acids and milk whey permeate) and nitrogen (glutamate, sulfate and yeast extract) sources to hydrogen production by Rhodopseudomonas palustris and Rhodobacter capsulatus strains. The cells were cultured in 50 mL penicilium flasks and incubated at 30°C in anaerobic conditions using initial pH of 6.8 and 2,200 lux. The best result to H2 productivity was 110.46 µmol de H2/Lh at 60 mM/L of malic acid and 6 g/L of milk whey permeate (corresponded at 5.58 g/L of lactose) to Rhodopseudomonas palustris.
