| Abstract: | Hydrogen is an ideal, clean and sustainable energy source for the future because of its high conversion and nonpolluting nature. Biohydrogen production by dark-fermentation appears to have a great potential to be developed for practical application. However, one limiting factor affecting the development of hydrogen-production industrialization is that the hydrogen-producing capacity of bacteria is lower, so how to increase bacteria's hydrogen-producing ability will be an urgent issue. In this experiment, 2 mutants, namely UV3 and UV7,were obtained by ultra-violet radiation. They grew and produced hydrogen efficiently on iron-containing medium. The hydrogen evolution of UV3 and UV7 were 2 356. 68 ml/L and 2 219. 62 ml/L at a glucose concentration of 10 g/L, respectively. With wild parent strain Ethanoligenens sp. ZGX4, the hydrogen evohution was 1 806. 02 ml/L under the same conditions. Mutants' hydrogen-producing capacities were about 29. 71% and 22.22% higher than that of wild parent strain ZGX4. The maximum H2 production rate by mutants UV3 and UV7 were estimated to be 32. 57 mmol H2/g cell h and 31.19 mmol H2/g cell h, respectively, which were 38. 18% and 34. 78% higher than the control (23.57 mmol H2/g cell h). The abundant products of UV3 and UV7 were ethanol and acetic, which accounted for 95% -98% of total soluble microbial products. In each case, mutant strains UV3 and UV7 evolved hydrogen at a higher rate than the wild type, showing a possible potential for commercial hydrogen production. Another mutant named UV20' was also gained whose main end metabolites were butyric acid and acetic acid. This would provide researched material for a discussion of metabolic pathways of hydrogen-producing bacteria. |
