Enhancement of biofuel production via microbial augmentation: The case of dark fermentative hydrogen

This review portrays the status and perspectives of bioaugmented hydrogen fermentation, an emerging strategy of process intensification. Firstly, the paper introduces the potentials and limitations of dark fermentative hydrogen production and describes the technologies available for its enhancement including bioaugmentation. The theoretical background and practical features of augmentation methods for biohydrogen generation are subsequently assessed and surveyed in details. Furthermore, a throughout evaluation of the recent and novel achievements reported in the concept of "augmented hydrogen fermentation" is given in association with (i) bioreactor start-up, (ii) utilization of solid wastes, wastewaters, (iii) the feasibility in continuous systems as well as in complementary - integrated applications. The article is intended to provide an insight to the advancements made for realizing more viable biohydrogen formation via bioaugmentation and hence it might be encouraging for further studies in the field. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.