Basar Uyar

Photoproduction of hydrogen by Rhodobacter capsulatus from thermophilic fermentation effluent

Rhodobacter capsulatus was used for the phototrophic hydrogen production on effluent solution derived from the thermophilic fermentation of Miscanthus hydrolysate by Thermotoga neapolitana. Pretreatments such as centrifugation, dilution, buffer addition, pH adjustment and sterilization were suggested for the effluent before being fed to the photofermentation. Batch-wise experiments showed that R. capsulatus grows and produces hydrogen on the pretreated effluent solution. Moreover, it was found that the hydrogen yield increased from 0.3 to 1.0 L/Lculture by addition of iron to the effluent solution.

Bioreactor design for photofermentative hydrogen production

Hydrogen will become a significant fuel in the near future. Photofermentative production of hydrogen is a promising and sustainable process. The design, construction and successful operation of the photobioreactors are of critical importance for photofermentative hydrogen production and became a major field of research where novel technologies are developed and adapted frequently. This paper gives an overview of the design aspects related to photobioreactors giving particular attention to design limitations, construction material, type, operating mode and scale-up. Sub-components of the overall system setup such as mixing, temperature control and hydrogen collection are also discussed. Recent achievements in the photobioreactor technologies are described.

Dynamic modeling of temperature change in outdoor operated tubular photobioreactors

In this study, a one-dimensional transient model was developed to analyze the temperature variation of tubular photobioreactors operated outdoors and the validity of the model was tested by comparing the predictions of the model with the experimental data. The model included the effects of convection and radiative heat exchange on the reactor temperature throughout the day. The temperatures in the reactors increased with increasing solar radiation and air temperatures, and the predicted reactor temperatures corresponded well to the measured experimental values. The heat transferred to the reactor was mainly through radiation: the radiative heat absorbed by the reactor medium, ground radiation, air radiation, and solar (direct and diffuse) radiation, while heat loss was mainly through the heat transfer to the cooling water and forced convection. The amount of heat transferred by reflected radiation and metabolic activities of the bacteria and pump work was negligible. Counter-current cooling was more effective in controlling reactor temperature than co-current cooling. The model developed identifies major heat transfer mechanisms in outdoor operated tubular photobioreactors, and accurately predicts temperature changes in these systems. This is useful in determining cooling duty under transient conditions and scaling up photobioreactors. The photobioreactor design and the thermal modeling were carried out and experimental results obtained for the case study of photofermentative hydrogen production by Rhodobacter capsulatus, but the approach is applicable to photobiological systems that are to be operated under outdoor conditions with significant cooling demands.