Researchers Develop Two-Stage Process For Optimal Biohydrogen Production - 0 views
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Pannir selvam on 10 Oct 08* Rotary Rig Counts * Renewable Energy o Biofuels o Geothermal o Hydroelectric o Ocean, Tidal & Wave o Solar o Wind * Non-Renewable Energy o Coal o Nuclear o Oil & Natural Gas o Oil & Tar Sands o Oil Shale Researchers Develop Two-Stage Process For Optimal Biohydrogen Production Thursday, 17 July 2008 00:13:00 CDT Alternative-Energy-News.INFO - BioFuel News Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. According to an article [*.pdf] in the August issue of Microbiology Today , this technology has an added bonus: leftover enzymes can be used to scavenge precious metals from spent automotive catalysts to help make fuel cells that convert hydrogen into energy. Hydrogen has three times more potential energy by weight than petrol, making it the highest energy-content fuel available. Research into using bacteria to produce hydrogen from waste biomass has been revived thanks to the rising profile of energy issues. According to the researchers, the UK throws away a third of its food, wasting 7 million tonnes a year. The majority of this is currently sent to landfill where it produces gases like methane, which is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Following some major advances in the technology used to make biohydrogen, this waste can now be turned into valuable energy. Two-stage process There are special and yet prevalent circumstances under which micro-organisms have no better way of gaining energy than to release hydrogen into their environment. Microbes such as heterotrophs, cyanobacteria, microalgae and purple bacteria all produce biohydrogen in different ways, says Dr Mark Redwood from the University of Birmingham. When there is no oxygen, fermentative bacteria use carbohydrates like sugar to produce hydrogen and
