초록
Glycerol is an inevitable by-product from biodiesel synthesis process and could be a promising feedstock for fermentative hydrogen production. In this study, the feasibility of using crude glycerol from biodiesel industry for biohydrogen production was evaluated using seven isolated hydrogen-producing bacterial strains (Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium pasteurianum, and Klebsiella sp.). Among the strains examined, C. pasteurianum CH4 exhibited the best biohydrogen-producing performance under the optimal conditions of: temperature, 35 <SUP>o</SUP>C; initial pH, 7.0; agitation rate, 200 rpm; glycerol concentration, 10 g/l. When using pure glycerol as carbon source for continuous hydrogen fermentation, the average H<SUB>2</SUB> production rate and H<SUB>2</SUB> yield were 103.1 +/- 8.1 ml/h/l and 0.50 +/- 0.02 mol H<SUB>2</SUB>/mol glycerol, respectively. In contrast, when using crude glycerol as the carbon source, the H<SUB>2</SUB> production rate and H<SUB>2</SUB> yield was improved to 166.0 +/- 8.7 ml/h/l and 0.77 +/- 0.05 mol H<SUB>2</SUB>/mol glycerol, respectively. This work demonstrated the high potential of using biodiesel by-product, glycerol, for cost-effective biohydrogen production.