The use of a vegetable waste-derived fermentation product for H2 production by anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the feasibility of a two stage process costituited by an acidogenic phase, where the dark fermentation of vegetable residues (raw residues coming from the central vegetable market of Florence) is carried out by the autochthonous chemoheterotrophic microflora residing on the vegetables, followed by a hydrogen photoevolution phase, where the liquid fraction of the fermented residues is utilized by purple non sulfur bacteria for H2 production.