Hydrogen production in bioreactor by a photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus 2. Lactate transformation and carbon balances
A 10 l photobioreactor, consisting of a PVC tubing, spiral-coiled so as to form a plane light captor (DELACHAPELLE et al., 1990), was used to study the degradation of lactate by the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus strain B10. The bacterial culture was continuously circulated in the reactor so as to maintain a homogeneous suspension, to optimize illumination of the cells, and make a well-mixed reactor for optimal nutrient transfers and degas ing of the medium. The bacterium was cultivated anaerobically under photoheterotrophic and N-limited conditions. The bioreactor was operated in three modes : as an open system (chemostat), as a closed system (batch), and as an open system with phases of bacteria recycling through the use of an ultrafiltration cell. When the bioreactor functioned as a chemostat, at low dilution rate (D < 0.04 h-1) and at relatively low bacterial density (A660 nm < 2.5), up to 90 % of the added lactate (initial concentration 30 mM) was degraded; the concentration of degradation products (formate, acetate) remained low (<2 mM). Under these conditions nitrogenase-mediated H2 production was maximal (44 ml • h-1 • l-1). In batch cultures or when the cells were « recycled » in the chemostat by ultrafiltration, the increase in absorbancy led to a decrease in cell illumination and the bacteria apparently switched from a photosynthetic of a fermentative type of metabolism; lactate was converted into formate + acetate + propionate, no H2 was produced. From the determination of the carbon balance between the influent and the effluent medium, the presence of non identified extracellular carbon compounds (up to 50 % of the C content of the effluent) was proved.