Bioreactor Design Studies for a Hydrogen-Producing Bacterium

Carbon monoxide (CO) can be metabolized by a number of microorganisms along with water to produce hydrogen (H₂) and carbon dioxide. National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers have isolated a number of bacteria that perform this so-called water-gas shift reaction at ambient temperatures. We performed experiments to measure the rate of CO conversion and H₂ production in a trickle-bed reactor (TBR). The liquid recirculation rate and the reactor support material both affected the mass transfer coefficient, which controls the overall performance of the reactor. A simple reactor model taken from the literature was used to quantitatively compare the performance of the TBR geometry at two different size scales. Good agreement between the two reactor scales was obtained.