Frementation of biowaste to H2 by Bacillus licheniformis.

Completely damaged wheat grains, unfit for human consumption, were fermented to H2 by Bacillus licheniformis strain JK1. Batch-culture fermentation of wheat slurries [6% (w/v) total solids and 5.8% (w/v) organic solids (OS)] evolved 225, 205 and 203 l of biogas-H, a mixture of H2, CO2 and H2S, per kg OS at pH 6, 7 and 8, respectively. H2 constituted 25% to 41% of the total biogas-H evolved. In single-stage continuous culture, H2 generated/kg OS reduced was 70 l at pH 6 and 74 l at pH 7 and 8.