Handbook of Biofuels Production, 2nd Edition

11

Biological and fermentative production of hydrogen

C. Ding^1,2, K.-L. Yang¹,  and J. He^1     1National University of Singapore, Singapore     ²Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

Abstract

Hydrogen gas is an attractive alternative sustainable energy due to its high energy density and zero greenhouse gas emission after combustion. Biological production of hydrogen by bacteria or algae operates under mild conditions and does not rely on fossil fuels or electricity. This chapter focuses on discussing the principles of hydrogen production by biological processes, including dark fermentation, biophotolysis by both algae and cyanobacteria, photofermentation, microbial electrolysis cell (MEC), cell-free enzymatic systems, ...