Promising Selected Biohydrogen Solutions

Abstract Biological hydrogen production is a well-studied area. Despite this, the low yields achieved have prevented such technologies from becoming widespread for hydrogen production. Moreover, low yields also lead to the generation of side products whose large-scale production would generate a waste disposal problem. Of the possible approaches that are under active investigation (biophotolysis, photofermentation, microbial electrolysis, and dark fermentation), dark fermentation has the additional advantage of largely relying on already developed bioprocess technology and of potentially using various waste streams as feedstock. Biological hydrogen production presents a possible avenue for the large-scale sustainable generation of hydrogen needed to fuel a future hydrogen economy. In this chapter, recent attempts to overcome these barriers are briefly discussed and recent progress in efforts to increase biological hydrogen yields are described.