Biohydrogen

Hydrogen (H2) is an interesting source of energy. It contain about 3 KWh/m3 energy (lower latent heat), and produces just water while burning. However, H2 is produced today from oil by reforming fossil fuels. There has been many research and development on production of hydrogen by a sustainable methods in the last decades. Biological hydrogen production is of great interest. An interesting recent review compares the three methods of biohydrogen production, i.e. by oxygenic photosynthesis by purple bacteria, dark fermentation by anaerobic bacteria, and microbial enectolysis cells by anode-respiring bacteria. The first method works well in theory, but it has many problems in practice. Dark fermentation works well in practice, but has a low yield (about 17% of the theoretical yield), and the last method needs electricity and has a low kinetic. Although these challenges, it seems a combination of these methods might lead to a promising method for BioH2 production in the future!