In the desperate search for renewable energy sources scientists are turning to bacteria to more efficiently produce hydrogen. Hydrogen has long been touted as a potential wonder fuel for cars and other energy needs. However, the majority of hydrogen production has been relegated to cost-effective methods involving extraction from fossil fuels. This manufacturing process releases large amounts of CO2 making hydrogen a dirty fuel source. Fortunately, scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) have developed a cleaner technology that produces hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria live in the soil and convert nitrogen in the air into a chemical form plants use to grow. Some of these bacteria release hydrogen gas as part of their metabolic processes, so scientists learned how to identify these strains using a selecting agent.
They were also able to identify a gene in the bacteria that, once deactivated, keeps the bacteria from reabsorbing the hydrogen it produces. All of the released hydrogen can then be collected to produce hydrogen fuel, which will hopefully be put to use in fuel cell technology.
Hydrogen fuel cell technology has been so highly touted because the only by-products are water and heat (aka energy). Right now several clean ways of producing hydrogen are in development including extracting it from waste water or algea that has been deprived of sulfur. Further Reading:
