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Microbial Technologies in Advanced Biofuels Production pp 53–75Cite as

Hydrogen Production: Photofermentation

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Abstract

In this chapter, the production of hydrogen with purple nonsulfur (PNS) bacteria is presented, describing the main physiological features of PNS bacteria, the enzymes involved in H2 production and the technological aspects related to the process of photofermentation. In particular, the conversion yields of the substrates, both synthetic and derived from waste products, utilized for H2 production are presented, together with some considerations on the efficiency of the conversion of the light energy into hydrogen energy. The problems related with the scaling up of the process and with the use of solar light are finally discussed, presenting some of the open problems still to be solved in order to make this process economically feasible.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) (FISR, “IDROBIO” Project), Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forest Politics (MIPAAF) (“IMERA” Project), and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (“Firenze Hydrolab” Project) that partially supported the research carried out in their laboratory and mentioned in this chapter.

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  1. Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, University of Florence, Piazzale Delle Cascine 24, I-50144, Florence, Italy

    Alessandra Adessi & Roberto De Philippis

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  1. Alessandra Adessi
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  2. Roberto De Philippis
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Correspondence to Roberto De Philippis .

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  1. Dépt. Microbiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, MONTREAL, Québec, Canada

    Patrick C. Hallenbeck

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Adessi, A., De Philippis, R. (2012). Hydrogen Production: Photofermentation. In: Hallenbeck, P. (eds) Microbial Technologies in Advanced Biofuels Production. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1208-3_4

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