Experimental study of hydrogen kinetics from agroindustrial by-product: optimal conditions for production and fuel cell feeding

One of the best and cleanest systems to produce electric energy is represented by fuel cells, whose natural fuel is hydrogen. In this paper, the production of hydrogen rich biogas is studied. This process contributes to create a system for biomass recovery, which eliminates organic pollutants and produces energy with high efficiency without atmospheric emissions. The study has been based on Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes strains. The research deals with batch reactors and verification of optimal conditions of hydrogen production. The realization of the optimal working conditions would conduce to the realization of a reactor suitable to feed a stack of the above mentioned fuel cells. In view of industrial applications, some different ways have been considered to greatly enhance the process performance, in terms of rate of hydrogen production, efficiency of hydrogen utilization and/or biosynthesis of valuable subproducts.