Hydrogen will become a significant fuel in the near future. Photofermentative production of hydrogen is a promising and sustainable process. The design, construction and successful operation of the photobioreactors are of critical importance for photofermentative hydrogen production and became a major field of research where novel technologies are developed and adapted frequently. This paper gives an overview of the design aspects related to photobioreactors giving particular attention to design limitations, construction material, type, operating mode and scale-up. Sub-components of the overall system setup such as mixing, temperature control and hydrogen collection are also discussed. Recent achievements in the photobioreactor technologies are described.
Keywords: Biohydrogen; Photobioreactor; Photofermentation.