Life’s a gas… and it’s hydrogen
The ability of certain microbes to generate hydrogen gas has many exciting potential applications. In this article in Microbiology Today, Mark Redwood and Lynne Macaskie describe the use of biodegradable wastes that would normally go into landfill to make biofuel.
Hydrogen (H2) contains around three times more potential energy by weight than petrol, making it the highest energy-content fuel available, a property exploited in space exploration. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a multitude of microorganisms have developed the ability to derive energy from H2, but this is not the focus of this short article. Paradoxically, there are special and yet prevalent circumstances under which micro-organisms have no better way of gaining energy than to release H2 into their environment. The study of these phenomena began early in the last century, but biohydrogen (biologically produced H2) remained merely an academic curiosity before the fuel crises of the 1980s. The rising profile of energy issues in the public consciousness and in political agendas, combined with scientific advances and the expansion of interdisciplinary research, have contributed to a fresh revival and new developments in biohydrogen technologies.
Tags: Bacteria, Biology, Biotechnology, Environment, Microbiology, Science
