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Objective & Scope
1. Characterization of biological hydrogen production 2. Improvement of biological hydrogen production 3. Development of biological hydrogen production process Main Contents Hydrogen gas is seen as a future energy carrier by virtue of the fact that it is renewable, does not evolve the "greenhouse gas" CO2 in combustion, liberates large amounts of energy per unit weight in combustion, and is easily converted to electricity by fuel cells. Biological hydrogen production has several advantages over hydrogen production by photoelectrochemical or thermochemical processes. Biological hydrogen production by photosynthetic microorganisms for example, requires the use of a simple solar reactor such as a transparent closed box, with low energy requirements. Electrochemical hydrogen production via solar battery-based water splitting on the hand, requires the use of solar batteries with high energy requirements. Low conversion efficiencies of biological systems can be compensated for, by low energy requirements and reduced initial investment costs. Moreover, in laboratory experiments, a light energy conversion efficiency as high as 7% has been obtained using a photoheterotrophic process. Microalgae are primitive microscopic plants living in aqueous environments. Miroalgae and Cyanobacteria along with higher plants, are capable of oxygenic photosynthesis. Photosynthesis consists of two processes: light energy conversion to biochemical energy by a photochemical reaction, and CO2 reduction to organic compounds such as sugar phosphates, through the use of this biochemical energy by Calvin-cycle enzymes. Under certain conditions, however, instead of reducing CO2, a few groups of microalgae and Cyanobacteria consume biochemical energy to produce molecular hydrogen. Hydrogenase and nitrogenase enzymes are both capable of hydrogen production. Biological hydrogen production is the most challenging area of biotechnology with respect to environmental problems. The future of biological hydrogen production depends not only on research advances, i.e. improvement in efficiency through genetically engineering microorganisms and/or the development of bioreactors, but also on economic considerations (the cost of fossil fuels), social acceptance, and the development of hydrogen energy systems. |
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