Hydrolysates of lignocellulosic materials for biohydrogen production

Abstract

Lignocellulosic materials are commonly used in bio-H2 productionfor the sustainable energy resource development asthey are abundant, cheap, renewable and highly biodegradable.In the process of the bio-H2 production, the pretreated lignocellulosicmaterials are firstly converted to monosaccharidesby enzymolysis and then to H2 by fermentation. Since thestructures of lignocellulosic materials are rather complex, thehydrolysates vary with the used materials. Even using the samelignocellulosic materials, the hydrolysates also change withdifferent pretreatment methods. It has been shown that the appropriatehydrolysate compositions can dramatically improvethe biological activities and bio-H2 production performances.Over the past decades, hydrolysis with respect to differentlignocellulosic materials and pretreatments has been widelyinvestigated. Besides, effects of the hydrolysates on the biohydrogenyields have also been examined. In this review, recentstudies on hydrolysis as well as their effects on the biohydrogenproduction performance are summarized. [BMBReports 2013; 46(5): 244-251]

Keywords

• Fermentation
• Hydrogen production
• Hydrolysates
• Hydrolysis
• Lignocellulose