Development of novel strategies for higher fermentative biohydrogen recovery along with novel metabolites from organic wastes: The present state of the art

Abstract

Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental concern has compelled us to search for alternative fuel. Hydrogen is considered as a dream fuel as it has high energy content (142 kJ g −1 ) and is not chemically bound to carbon. At present, fossil fuel-based methods for producing hydrogen require high-energy input, which makes the processes expensive. The major processes for biohydrogen production are biophotolysis, microbial electrolysis, dark fermentation, and photofermentation. Fermentative hydrogen production has the additional advantages of potentially using various waste streams from different industries as feedstock. Novel strategies to enhance the productivity of fermentative hydrogen production include optimization in pretreatment methods, integrated fermentation systems (sequential and combined fermentation), use of nanoparticles as additives, metabolic engineering of microorganisms, improving the light utilization efficiency, developing more efficient photobioreactors, etc. More focus has been given to produce biohydrogen in a biorefinery approach in which, along with hydrogen gas, other metabolites (ethanol, butyric acid, 1,3-propanediol, etc.) are also produced, which have direct/indirect industrial applications. In present review, various emerging technologies that highlight biohydrogen production methods as effective and sustainable methods on a large scale have been critically reviewed. The possible future developments are also outlined.