Optimization of detecting hydrogenase activity for acidogenic fermentation of activated sludge

In order to evaluate the hydrogen-producing efficiency of anaerobic activated sludge in Anaerobic Baffled Reactor(ABR)fermentation processes,the optimal conditions for hydrogen producing hydrogenase method on methyl viologen(MV)assay was used to detect the hydrogen production activity of the activated sludge.The most favorable parameters such as 0.6 mL sodium acetate buffer(pH 5.0),100 μL lysozyme,0.2 mL sodium di bromoethane(9.0 mmol/L)and 0.7 mmol/L iron added into 1 mL activated sludge(2.66～26.64 gMLVSS/L)were found.Furthermore,reaction temperature and culture time were detected as 40 ℃ and 30 min respectively.Sodium thiosulfate and sodium sulfides were taken as the reducing agent while trichloroacetic acid as terminator.Under the MV optimal conditions,micro-texic Dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO)get higher security and better accuracy.The sensitivity of the detection methods(DMSO as electron carrier)was increased by more than30%.The results show that the optimal conditions can be applied to measure hydrogenase activity correlating with its specific hydrogen production rate in a hydrogen-producing anaerobic activated sludge system.