The characteristic of fermentation hydrogen production with pure microbial species R3 in continuous stirred tank reactor

Hydrogen production from diluted molasses by pure microbial species R3 was investigated in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) under continuous flow condition in this paper. The reactor used in this study was made of organic glasses. The experimental results indicated that the hydrogen-producing system could attain a stable state for hydrogen production with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h, influent COD concentration of 4000 mg/L and a temperature of (35±1)°C. During the steady period, the biogas yield kept about 6.6L/d with hydrogen content of 59.4%. The COD removal and ORP were 28% and -445~-420mV, respectively. The primary liquid fermentation products were ethanol and acetic acid. From the study, the strains R3 of high efficient hydrogen production can be applied to bio-hydrogen process of continuous flow.