Biohydrogen production potential of different biomass sources

Abstract

Hydrogen production from renewable energy sources has gained special attention in recent years. Especially biohydrogen production from biomass resources is accepted as an environmentally-friendly and sustainable approach. However, this process is slow due to the recalcitrant biomass structure hindering the liberation of readily fermentable sugars for fermentation. Therefore, biohydrogen production is usually integrated with a relevant biomass pretreatment process. This book chapter presents an overview of potential biomass resources, biomass pretreatment options, and fermentation processes used for biohydrogen gas production. The text focuses especially on separate and integrated dark and photofermentative hydrogen production processes by discussing principles and recent research outcomes from the literature. © Springer India 2011.