Palm oil mill e uent (POME) sludge, sludge compost from Malaysia and CREST compost from Philippines were collected for the study. The capability of these micro ora to produce hydrogen was examined with 500 ml artiÿcial wastewater containing 1% glucose, 0.2% yeast extract and 0.018% magnesium chloride hexahydrate under anaerobic fermentation in a batch culture. The micro ora in POME sludge, sludge compost and CREST compost were found to produce signiÿcant amounts of hydrogen. The maximum production yield of hydrogen per decomposed glucose was 2:1 mol=mol-glucose at a conversion rate of 0:137 L=(L-med h) at 50 • C obtained by sludge compost. All fermentations were carried out without pH control. It was also found that the addition of nitrogen source in the medium caused a change in hydrogen produced. There was no methane gas in the evolved gas. ?

Anaerobic production of hydrogen from palm oil mill effluent (POME) by microflora was investigated in 5-l bioreactor at 60 °C and pH 5.5. POME sludge was collected from the anaerobic pond of a POME treatment plant at a palm oil mill and used as a source of inocula. A batch reactor was found to yield a total of 4708 ml H2H2/(l POME) and the maximum evolution rate was 454 ml-H2H2/(l POME h). A fed batch process was conducted after 50 h. Two liters of reaction medium was removed and 2 l of fresh POME was added to the reactor every 24 h (15 times). The reproducibility of the fed batch process checked by changing the feeding time every 8 h (10 times). A yield of 2382 ml H2H2/(l POME) and 2419 ml H2H2/(l POME) at maximum evolution rate of 313 ml H2H2/(l POME h) and 436 ml H2H2/(l POME h) were obtained, respectively. Throughout the study, methane gas was not observed in the evolved gas mixture.