Characterization of biofilm formation from anaerobic sludge for fermentative biohydrogen production

Abstract

Biofilm-based systems have been extensively used as immobilized cell systems or attached growth systems as they can enhance the reaction rates and population dynamics. Therefore, this study was done to characterize the biofilm formation from anaerobic sludge for fermentative biohydrogen production. Other than that, this study also have been focusing on the development of mixed microflora biofilms. Several analysis were done to investigate the biohydrogen production such as determine the volume of gas collected after each day of fermentation, analyze the composition of the biogas collected by using a gas analyzer, determine the sugar consumption during the fermentation using spectrophotometer. Besides that, a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is also being used, mainly to characterize the biofilm formation by determining the functional group present in the immobilized cell. Rapid development of biofilms and the characterization of such biofilms are expected to minimize the mass transfer resistance and stabilize the hydrogen-producing bacteria on the biofilm for a good hydrogen performance