Hydrogen Production from Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii by Solar Irradiation

Hydrogen is considered a fundamental vector for clean energy. For a large-scale use, the production of a great amount of hydrogen is economically essential. From a strictly economical point of view, it is difficult to expect in the next few decades that biologically produced hydrogen may match against chemically-synthesized hydrogen. However, hydrogen production from algae and bacteria is a topic which is interesting due to the potential practical application of the process in renewable fuel production. In order to find the better conditions to optimize this process, the influence of many different physical and physiological factors have to be considered. Microscopical green algae like Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can produce hydrogen using solar energy as energy source also if only solar radiations in the 400-700 nm wavelength range (“Photosynthetic Active Radiation”--PAR) may be used. This paper deals with an experimental investigation on hydrogen production by means of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in different working conditions. In particular, tests were made for keeping constant the hydrogen production versus time by restoring the culture TAP medium. Different kinds of TAP medium were tested in order to determine the best one both in terms of hydrogen production and culture growth performances. Hydrogen produced by Chlamydomonas reinhardtii will be tested as fuel for a MCFC at the University of Perugia.