Photoproduction of hydrogen by photosynthetic bacteria from sewage and waste water.

ABSTRACT

Numerous prokaryotes, belonging to physiologically and taxonomically different groups, are able to produce hydrogen. Some photosynthetic bacteria have the property of light-dependent production of hydrogen from organic substrates. We isolated several photosynthetic purple and green bacteria from enrichment cultures made from the water of a waste-water pond of a cool-drink refilling station. After testing them for their ability to use various organic compounds as carbon source, and sulphide, thiosulphate and organic compounds as electron donor, we selected the fastest-growing isolate, a Rhodopseudomonas, for a study of its ability to produce molecular hydrogen in presence of light. Immobilized cells of this isolate produced significant amounts of hydrogen from both sewage and waste water.