• Industrially feasible production process and yield.
• Substrate competence of used strain.
• Kinetics suitable design of reactors.
• Thermodynamic barrier.
• Low-cost material for hydrogen storage for economic feasibility.
Aspects are calculated by practicableness, judgment of sustainability, and life
cycle as well as techno-economic reasoning. The energy ratio as well as emission
rate is compared with other biofuel and along with that the pathway also formulated.
The energy ratio (may be called as net energy ratio or energy balance) of
biohydrogen production pathways must be positive for sustainable replacement of
fossil sources.
The analytical results via life cycle assesment (LCA) study of biohydrogen by
photosynthesis showed that the usage of biohydrogen produces more benefits and is
ecofriendly in nature. Wulf and Kaltschmitt estimated that a total of 29.9 Miot CO 2 -
eq could be reduced by using compact-class hydrogen fuel cell vehicle over
compact-class gasoline vehicle over the 15 years’ lifetime. The life cycle study of
Djomo and Blumberga compared the energetic and environmental performances of
hydrogen from wheat straw (WS-H 2 ), sweet sorghum stalk (SSS-H 2 ), and steam
potato peels (SPP-H 2 ) and found comparable energy ratios (ER) among these, 1.08
for WS-H 2 , 1.14 for SSS-H 2 , and 1.17 for SPP-H 2 , and a GHG saving by more than
half the percentage as compared to the original value (Djomo and Blumberga 2011).
The steam methane reforming (SMR) technology is the most promising technology regarding the environmental impact. However, societal impact of biohydrogen
production and its use were less quantified due to complexity in societal structure; a
few reports suggested an edge of biohydrogen on other fuels. Hydrogen is the safest
fuel because of its non-toxicity, dispersive nature, and the least dangers in terms of a
fire hazard. It can cause fire even though it has little thermal radiation emitted by the
flame due its lack of soot content.
4.11 Various Biomass Sources for Biohydrogen Production
4.11.1 First-Generation Biomass
This type mainly contains starch as well as crops with a high amount of glucose such
as potato, sugarcane, and so on. Biohydrogen produced from sugar beet juice with
the help of Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus under high-temperature conditions
produce about 3 mol of hydrogen per hexose condition. This is because of the high
content of nutrition which can be utilized by the microbes present (Onyinye et al.
2020). In the case of sweet sorghum syrup, researches were carried out with
consortium under no oxygen supply with an yield of about 6864 mL H 2 /L. The
pretreatment of the substrate was not done in this case, so it is clear that in most cases
pretreatments are not actually required (Lay et al. 2012; Chen et al. 2011).
4 Biohydrogen Production from Biomass
89
• Substrate competence of used strain.
• Kinetics suitable design of reactors.
• Thermodynamic barrier.
• Low-cost material for hydrogen storage for economic feasibility.
Aspects are calculated by practicableness, judgment of sustainability, and life
cycle as well as techno-economic reasoning. The energy ratio as well as emission
rate is compared with other biofuel and along with that the pathway also formulated.
The energy ratio (may be called as net energy ratio or energy balance) of
biohydrogen production pathways must be positive for sustainable replacement of
fossil sources.
The analytical results via life cycle assesment (LCA) study of biohydrogen by
photosynthesis showed that the usage of biohydrogen produces more benefits and is
ecofriendly in nature. Wulf and Kaltschmitt estimated that a total of 29.9 Miot CO 2 -
eq could be reduced by using compact-class hydrogen fuel cell vehicle over
compact-class gasoline vehicle over the 15 years’ lifetime. The life cycle study of
Djomo and Blumberga compared the energetic and environmental performances of
hydrogen from wheat straw (WS-H 2 ), sweet sorghum stalk (SSS-H 2 ), and steam
potato peels (SPP-H 2 ) and found comparable energy ratios (ER) among these, 1.08
for WS-H 2 , 1.14 for SSS-H 2 , and 1.17 for SPP-H 2 , and a GHG saving by more than
half the percentage as compared to the original value (Djomo and Blumberga 2011).
The steam methane reforming (SMR) technology is the most promising technology regarding the environmental impact. However, societal impact of biohydrogen
production and its use were less quantified due to complexity in societal structure; a
few reports suggested an edge of biohydrogen on other fuels. Hydrogen is the safest
fuel because of its non-toxicity, dispersive nature, and the least dangers in terms of a
fire hazard. It can cause fire even though it has little thermal radiation emitted by the
flame due its lack of soot content.
4.11 Various Biomass Sources for Biohydrogen Production
4.11.1 First-Generation Biomass
This type mainly contains starch as well as crops with a high amount of glucose such
as potato, sugarcane, and so on. Biohydrogen produced from sugar beet juice with
the help of Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus under high-temperature conditions
produce about 3 mol of hydrogen per hexose condition. This is because of the high
content of nutrition which can be utilized by the microbes present (Onyinye et al.
2020). In the case of sweet sorghum syrup, researches were carried out with
consortium under no oxygen supply with an yield of about 6864 mL H 2 /L. The
pretreatment of the substrate was not done in this case, so it is clear that in most cases
pretreatments are not actually required (Lay et al. 2012; Chen et al. 2011).
4 Biohydrogen Production from Biomass
89