Abstract
Continuous culturing for hydrogen production using L-lactate as substrate was investigated for the construction of hydrogen recovery process from mixed organic acid waste by Rhodospirillaceae. Reactor no. 1 under axenic condition had produced hydrogen at the rate of 16ml/h/l-reactor steadily. In reactor no. 2 to which non-sterile medium was supplied under axenic condition. hydrogen production rate dropped suddenly at after 400hour-cultivation. The drop of hydrogen production was due to the inhibitory afffection of the growth of algae. In reactor no. 3 in which the mixed culture was inoculated, hydrogen production was inhibitted owing to hydrogen sulfide produced by sulfater reducing bacteria (SRB). The competition among microorganisms appearing in the reactor was discussed in this study.
