Jeong-Geol Na

High-calorific bio-hydrogen production under self-generated high-pressure condition

For the use of biologically produced H2, removal of CO2 is an indispensable process. Unlike conventional CO2 removal methods, this study proposed a self-generated high-pressure dark fermentation (HPDF) process as a novel strategy for directly producing high-calorific bio-H2. The pressure was automatically increased by self-generated gas, while the maximum pressure inside fermenter was restricted to 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 bar in a batch operation. As the pressure increased from 1 to 10 bar, the H2 content increased from 55% to 80%, whereas the H2 yield decreased from 1.5 to 0.9 mol H2/mol hexoseadded. The highest H2 content of 80% was obtained at both of 7 and 10 bars. Increased lactate production with increased abundance of lactic acid bacteria was observed at high-pressure. Despite the lower H2 yields at high-pressure conditions, HPDF was found to be economically beneficial for obtaining high-calorific bio-H2 owing to the low CO2 removal cost.

Improved reutilization of industrial crude lysine to 1,5-diaminopentane by enzymatic decarboxylation using various detergents and organic solvents

World-wide production of l-lysine has rapidly increased in recent years. In the industrial scale production, it is cost effective to minimize waste as many waste materials are generated during downstream processing. Therefore, the conversion of crude lysine to a more valuable product reduces waste emission. In this study, 1,5-diaminopentane (DAP, trivial name: cadaverine) was produced by l-lysine decarboxylation using Hafnia alvei. The conditions of enzymatic reaction were determined. In particular, the addition of specific detergent (Brij 56) was significantly affected in the bioconversion system. Addition of hydrophobic organic solvent improved the mixing of the reactants. Finally, an industrial crude form of lysine served as a substrate. The DAP conversion by analytical, feed and industrial crude l-lysine was 93.9%, 90.3%, and 63.8%, respectively.