Abstract

Combustion and dark fermentation are two important types of redox reactions. The former uses molecular oxygen as the oxidizing agent and the latter uses proton as the oxidizing agent. Dark fermentation is represented by Buswell’s equation for biohydrogen, which is composed of two sub-reactions: bioredox and biohydrolysis. Unlike heat of combustion, heat of dark fermentation is a concept that is rarely explored. In this research, with the help of Hess’s law, reactions of organic combustion and molecular hydrogen combustion are converted to Buswell’s equation for biohydrogen. The corresponding thermochemical equation for dark fermentation can then be identified accordingly. Based on a given chemical formula in the form of either empirical formula or structural formula, the relationship between standard heat of dark fermentation, standard heat of bioredox, and standard heat of biohydrolysis is established. Using the derived mathematical equations, standard heat of dark fermentation, standard heat of bioredox, and standard heat of biohydrolysis are determined.

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