Biological hydrogen production by Cyanothece sp . ATCC 51142 in a variable volume process: in silico optimization and sensitivity analysis

Among the various renewable energy sources that have been studied, hydrogen has been considered one of the most promising sustainable fuels. Its obtaining by microorganisms has been analyzed in experimental and simulation studies. Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142, a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium, is one microorganism that produces hydrogen and has a remarkable hydrogen production rate. The objective of this work is to conduct an in silico study to maximize the final volume of hydrogen produced by Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 and perform a model sensitivity analysis to provide confidence to the deterministic result of the optimization study. The results obtained showed that, despite the uncertainty in the most significant model parameters and initial conditions, hydrogen produced per culture volume can be increased with the implementation of the feeding policy indicated by the deterministic optimization study. When compared to the result from the literature, the increase in biofuel production showed to be 22.9% on average, with a standard deviation of 251 mL/L.