Sustained hydrogen photoproduction by marine green algae platymonas subcordiformis integrated with in situ hydrogen consumption by an alkaline fuel cell system

To improve the duration and yield of hydrogen photoproduction in a green algae-based system at laboratory scale for demonstration, this paper aims to investigate bioprocess integration and intensi- fication of high cell density culture and hydrogen production by marine green microalga Platymonas subcordiformis. Highest yield of hydrogen production (126 mlH2 l−1) were achieved at 3% CO2- supplemented culture integrated with in situH2 consumption by an alkaline fuel cell systemunder non-continuous illumination, which are 1.6-fold higher than that under continuous illumination. The decrease in the rate of hydrogen production correlated with the gradual deactivation in PSII activity and hydrogenase activity (Guo et al., 2008). The yield of hydrogen production was closely associated with the accumulation and catabolism of starch. The results demonstrated that a marine green algal two-stage system can be developed to a viable protocol for the substantial and sustainable hydrogen photoproduction (Guan et al., 2004a,b; Ran et al., 2006). However, further research efforts are required to improve the yield and duration of H2 production for any large-scale trial.