Isolation and Characterization of Biohydrogen Producing Bacteria from Rice Bran with Optimization of Different Parameters

Biohydrogen is a renewable source of energy and is an alternative to the traditional fuels because of its less harmful impact on the environment. Anaerobic mixed fermentative biohydrogen production was carried out using rice bran as the substrate, a byproduct of the rice milling industry. A total of six bacterial sp. were isolated and screened, out of which bacterial sp. B1 and B6 were selected for further biochemical characterization and for parameters optimization. Pretreatment of the substrate was carried to make production more rapid and efficient. The effects of Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT), temperature and pH were studied. The maximum biohydrogen production was 112 ml at 48 hours of Hydraulic Retention Time, 92 ml production at 35 oC and 180 ml at initial pH 8. The co-culture of inoculum B1 and B6 was efficient in biohydrogen production.