Concomitant biohydrogen and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate production from dark fermentation effluents by adapted Rhodobacter sphaeroides and mixed photofermentative cultures.

This work aimed at investigating concomitant production of biohydrogen and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) by photofermentation (PF) using dark fermentation effluents (DFE). An adapted culture of Rhodobacter sphaeroides AV1b (pH 6.5, 24±2°C) achieved H2 and PHB yields of 256 (±2) NmLH2/g Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and 273.8mgPHB/gCOD (32.5±3% of the dry cells weight (DCW)), respectively. When a diluted (1:2) DFE medium was applied to the adapted pure and mixed photofermentative culture, the respective H2 yields were 164.0 (±12) and 71.3 (±6) NmLH2/gCOD and the PHB yields were 212.1 (±105.2) and 50.7 (±2.7) mgPHB/gCOD added, corresponding to 24 (±0.7) and 6.3 (±0) % DCW, respectively. The concomitant H2 and PHB production from the PF process gave a good DFE post treatment achieving up to 80% COD removal from the initial DFE.