초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Biodiesel manufacturing units discharge effluents rich in glycerol. The need is to convert crude glycerol (CG) into useful products such as hydrogen (H<SUB>2</SUB>). Under batch culture, <I>Bacillus</I> <I>thuringiensis</I> EGU45 adapted on pure glycerol (PG, 2% v/v) resulted in an H<SUB>2</SUB> yield of 0.646mol/mol glycerol consumed on minimal media (250mL) supplemented with 1% ammonium nitrate at 37°C over 4days. Here, H<SUB>2</SUB> constituted 67% of the total biogas. Under continuous culture, at 2days of hydraulic retention time, <I>B. thuringiensis</I> immobilized on ligno-cellulosic materials (banana leaves – BL, 10% v/v) resulted in a H<SUB>2</SUB> yield of 0.386mol/mol PG consumed. On CG, the maximal H<SUB>2</SUB> yield of 0.393mol/mol feed consumed was recorded. In brief, <I>B. thuringiensis</I> could transform CG, on limited resources – minimal medium with sodium nitrate, by immobilizing them on cheap and easily available biowaste, which makes it a suitable candidate for H<SUB>2</SUB> production on a large scale.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Bioconversion of crude glycerol into H<SUB>2</SUB> by <I>Bacillus thuringiensis</I>. </LI> <LI> Adaptation of <I>Bacillus thuringiensis</I> on glycerol improved H<SUB>2</SUB> yield by 1.46-fold. </LI> <LI> H<SUB>2</SUB> evolution of 0.393mol/mol of crude glycerol consumed by immobilized bacteria. </LI> </UL> </P>