title: Novel Hydrogen Bioreactor and Detection Apparatus.
abstract: In vitro hydrogen generation represents a clear opportunity for novel bioreactor and system design. Hydrogen, already a globally important commodity chemical, has the potential to become the dominant transportation fuel of the future. Technologies such as in vitro synthetic pathway biotransformation (SyPaB)-the use of more than 10 purified enzymes to catalyze unnatural catabolic pathways-enable the storage of hydrogen in the form of carbohydrates. Biohydrogen production from local carbohydrate resources offers a solution to the most pressing challenges to vehicular and bioenergy uses: small-size distributed production, minimization of CO2 emissions, and potential low cost, driven by high yield and volumetric productivity. In this study, we introduce a novel bioreactor that provides the oxygen-free gas phase necessary for enzymatic hydrogen generation while regulating temperature and reactor volume. A variety of techniques are currently used for laboratory detection of biohydrogen, but the most information is provided by a continuous low-cost hydrogen sensor. Most such systems currently use electrolysis for calibration; here an alternative method, flow calibration, is introduced. This system is further demonstrated here with the conversion of glucose to hydrogen at a high rate, and the production of hydrogen from glucose 6-phosphate at a greatly increased reaction rate, 157 mmol/L/h at 60 °C.
authors.affiliation: Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, 304 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.|Cell Free Bioinnovations Inc, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA.|Gate Fuels Inc, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rollin
authors.affiliation: Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, 304 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Xinhao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, 304 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Julia Martin
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Del Campo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, 304 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA. ypzhang@vt.edu.|Cell Free Bioinnovations Inc, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA. ypzhang@vt.edu.|Gate Fuels Inc, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA. ypzhang@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Y-H Percival
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D019149:Bioreactors; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D006864:Hydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D020027:Pyrococcus furiosus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006859:Hydrogen; D006864:Hydrogenase; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Biohydrogen; Continuous hydrogen detection; Hydrogen bioreactor; In vitro synthetic biosystem for biomanufacturing; Synthetic pathway biotransformation