Abstract
For the photo-production of hydrogen using photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphae-roides S from the agroindustrial wastes, basic characteristics for hydrogen production were investigated. This strain produced hydrogen gas by nitrogenase enzyme. Nitrogenase of the bacterial strain was relatively loosely inactivated by ammonia in the culture broth. The maximum production of hydrogen (80.3 ml·g cell-1·h-1) was observed at 10 klux of light intensity in the pH 7.0±0.1 when malic acid and glutamic acid were used for carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. Furthermore, hydrogen gas was also produced from glucose, acetate and propionate. The characteristics of photo-hydrogen production by R. sphaeroides S described above might be suitable for application to the anaerobic digestion of agroindustrial wastes accompained with energy production.
