Stably Sustained Hydrogen Production with High Molar Yield through a Combination of a Marine Green Alga and a Photosynthetic Bacterium

Stably sustained continuous production of hydrogen with high molar yield was achieved through a combination of dark fermentative hydrogen evolution by Chlamydomonas sp. strain MGA161 and hydrogen photoevolution by a marine photosynthetic bacterium W-1S in an alternating light-dark cycle as a model of the day-night cycle. The newly isolated strain W-1S could use acetic acid and ethanol excreted by strain MGA161 as electron donors for hydrogen photoevolution. The fermentation broth of strain MGA161 stimulated the hydrogen photoproduction of strain W-1S. This alga-bacterial combination had a high conversion yield of 8 mol H2/mol of glucose of starch, with the possibility of improvement up to 10.5.