Looking for robust and efficient H2-producing microbes

The industrial scale hydrogen production from organic wastes by fermentative process is far to be realized as technical and economical limitations have still to be solved. Low H2 yields, lack of industrially robust organisms, and high cost of substrates are the major limiting factors. Moreover, the difficulty on understanding the main parameters implicated with the biomass-to- H2 route are largely due to the complexity of the microbial communities involved in the process. This work aimed at the development of an efficient microbial inoculum for the industrial conversion of organic residues into hydrogen. One hundred and twenty microbial strains, previously isolated from mixed consortia with interesting H2 fermentative performances from glucose, were genetically identified and screened for their extracellular hydrolytic profile on the main components of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). Few Bacillus sp. isolates showed promising hydrolytic capabilities and will be evaluated, as pure cultures, for their H2 production potentials from both simple and complex substrates.