Biohydrogen Production by Extremely Halophilic Bacteria from the Salt Pan of Samut Sakhon, Thailand

Abstract

The optimum conditions for biohydrogen production from glucose with extremely halophilic bacteria from Samut Sakhon salt pan, Thailand were identified. The extremely halophilic bacteria’s ability to produce hydrogen in nearly saturated NaCl concentration provides a potential benefit of cutting the cost of water and sterilization in dark fermentation process following alkaline pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. A hydrogen molar yield of 1.45 mol H2/mol glucose at optimum conditions of 26% NaCl, 35°C, and pH 9 was obtained. The acclimatized bacteria were able to ferment various types of lignocellulosic-derived sugars. Through PCR-DGGE, the predominant hydrogen producer among the mixed culture was found to be Halanaerobium fermentans. These findings provided insights into the application of extremely halophilic bacteria for biohydrogen production.