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Abstract

Hydrogen is a clean and an efficient carrier of fuel. It is widely being accepted as a potential substitute for fossil fuels. Therefore, if hydrogen is to replace fossil fuels in the future, it has to be produced renewably and in large scale, through environmentally benign process. Rhodobacter sphaeroides NMBL-02, photosynthetic purple non sulfur (PNS) bacteria and Bacillus firmus NMBL-03 were isolated from water sample collected from 15-20 inches beneath the surface of ponds from Northern region of India. The PNS and heterotrophic bacteria associated with the culture was purified by clonal selection method and characterized by 16S rDNA sequencing The PNS isolate was identified as Rhodobacter sphaeroides NMBL-02 (ID: 1467407, Accession BANKIT: JN256030) and associated heterotroph as Bacillus firmus NMBL-03 (Gene Bank Accession no.: JN 256029). The effect of initial medium pH on optimization of hydrogen production was investigated in temperature controlled CSTR (constant stirred tank reactor) using cane molasses as carbon source. The effect of initial medium pH on optimization of hydrogen production was investigated in batch process. The maximum hydrogen potential and hydrogen production rate was 3310 ± 55 ml/l and 18.50 ml/lculture h respectively using glutamate (1.7 mM) as nitrogen source at initial medium pH 5.0 using 1L batch reactor under optimized trace metal concentration using light intensity of 4.5 kLux at 38 ± 2oC. This co-culture has the ability to produce significant amount of hydrogen in pH range of 5.0 to 10.0 with 80% to 35% COD conversion.

Biography

Anjana Pandey had received PhD degree at the age of 26 years from Banaras Hindu University, India in the area of Biochemistry. She has published more than 35 papers in refereed journals. She is working in the area of Biological hydrogen production, plant biotechnology and Nanobiotechnology.