Kinetic modeling of hydrogen production rate by photoautotrophic cyanobacterium A. variabilis ATCC 29413 as a function of both CO2 concentration and oxygen production rate.

Hydrogen production by cyanobacteria could be one of the promising energy resources in the future. However, there is very limited information regarding the kinetic modeling of hydrogen production by cyanobacteria available in the literature. To provide an in-depth understanding of the biological system involved during the process, the Haldane's noncompetitive inhibition equation has been modified to determine the specific hydrogen production rate (HPR) as a function of both dissolved CO2 concentration (CTOT) and oxygen production rate (OPR). The highest HPR of 15 [Formula: see text] was found at xCO2 of 5% vol/vol and the rate consequently decreased when the CTOT and OPR were 0.015 k mol m-3 and 0.55 mL h-1, respectively. The model provided a fairly good estimation of the HPR with respect to the experimental data collected.