Project focuses on production of hydrogen from bacteria and sunlight

“That can be done by more directly linking hydrogenase to where electrons come out of the photosynthetic pathway,” he said. “So we are essentially hijacking the electrons to go to the hydrogenase where they, together with protons, form hydrogen.”

The third part of the project is to create a microbial fuel cell technology that uses the left over cyanobacterial biomass generated in the hydrogen production process as the energy source for additional hydrogen production. Bruce Rittmann, director of the Environmental Biotechnology Center at the Biodesign Institute at ASU is leading the effort in this area.

The researchers will develop the scientific and technological basis for microbial fuel cells that oxidize organic materials in biomass at their anodes, while generating hydrogen gas at their cathode. This work is expected to not only capture energy from cyanobacterial biomass, but it will lay the scientific groundwork for microbial conversion of energy from all kinds of biomass, including human and animal wastes, agricultural crops and residues, and ethanol. The process already has demonstrated that it can produce some energy, but Vermaas said there still is a long way to go to make it economical and efficient.

All of this work is based on many years of research that has been done at ASU, especially groundbreaking biochemical and molecular studies carried out by Tom and Ana Moore, Devens Gust, Jim Allen, Andrew Webber, Neal Woodbury and Anne Jones in the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis. Jens Appel, a leading researcher on cyanobacterial hydrogenases, joined the team in January.

The key now is that with the steady funding that will be provided by the President’s Intellectual Fusion fund, the team can perform the necessary research that will yield results.

“We know the space we need to look in, and where to look in nature for solutions,” Vermaas said. “We have the tools to do the work. We have good ideas on how to do metabolic engineering of the cyanobacteria. We just need to do more research to make it work effectively.”

Source:
Willem Vermaas, (480) 965-6250,