Bio-hydrogen is a promising sustainable energy to replace fossil fuels. This study investigated bio-H-2 production from the inoculum of heat-pretreated landfill leachate sludge using glucose as model substrate. The seed sludge pretreated at 65 degrees C showed the highest amount of H-2 at the optimum condition of pH 6 and 37 degrees C. The maximum H-2 yield estimated by the modified Gompertz model was 6.43 mol H-2/mol glucose. The high efficient of H-2 production is thermodynamically feasible with the Gibbs free energy of 34 kJ/mol. This study reveals that pretreated landfill leachate sludge has considerable potential for H-2 production. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.