초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Spent mushroom compost (SMC), waste cultivation medium of mushroom, is a potential lignocellulosic substrate. The characteristics of <I>Clostridium thermocellum</I> growing on SMC were investigated to provide practical guidance for better utilizing the SMC. SMC could be utilized without any pretreatment by <I>C. thermocellum</I>, and grinding, washing and mild chemical pretreatment could improve the fermentation performance of SMC, and consequently improved the hydrogen production. Grinding, washing and NaOH pretreatment increased hydrogen production by 48.48%, 62.09% and 2.61 times, respectively. Compared with washing method, neutralizing the alkali pretreated SMC with waste acid had no significant effect on hydrogen production, while could save a lot of water. Besides, fermentation without sterilization and medium simplification were feasible for the fermentation of SMC. The present study shows that SMC is a feasible substrate for consolidated bioprocessing, but pretreatments are needed to degrade the SMC more effectively.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Hydrogen production from SMC without sterilization was feasible. </LI> <LI> Pretreatment and washing improved the fermentation performance of SMC. </LI> <LI> Neutralizing the alkali pretreated SMC by waste acid was feasible. </LI> <LI> Medium could be simplified with SMC as substrate. </LI> </UL> </P>