Looking towards Hydrogen as a Promising Energy Source

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell could revolutionize the world. This ingenious technology, which creates electricity from the chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen has, in its 150-year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to innovation. Recent developments in fuel cell technology and concurrent developments within the energy and automotive industries have brought the world to brink of the fuel cell age and the hydrogen economy.

A lot has been written about hydrogen and human being’s emergence into a “hydrogen economy”. There are many studies published and numerous advances in the related technologies. As a matter of fact the November 13th edition of the journal, Science,

Clostridium acetobutylicum is a bacterial species that ferments sugar to a mixture of organic solvents (acetone, butanol and ethanol). This protocol delineates a methodology to combine solventogenic clostridial fermentation and chemical catalysis via extractive fermentation for the production of biofuel blendstocks. Extractive fermentation of C. acetobutylicum is operated in fed-batch mode with a concentrated feed solution (500 grams per liter glucose and 50 grams per liter yeast extract) for 60 h, producing in excess of 40 g of solvents (acetone, butanol and ethanol) between the completely immiscible extractant and aqueous phases of the bioreactor. After distillation of the extractant phase, the acetone, butanol and ethanol mixture is upgraded

The metabolic pathway of various clostridia (C. acetobutylicum, C. beijerinckii and C. pasteurianum) is very similar (Zheng et al., 2009). The broadly studied clostridium species (C. acetobutylicum) produces three major classes of end products during fermentation such as (a) solvents (acetone, butanol and ethanol); (b) organic acids (acetic acid, butyric acid and lactic acid); (c) gases (carbon dioxide, and hydrogen). The biosynthesis of acetone, butanol, and ethanol share the same metabolic pathway as that of glucose to acetyl-CoA, but branches into different pathways thereafter (Fig. 5-1http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10295-009-0609-9/fulltext.html - Fig1).

Methane production from hydrogen and ethanol effluent was conducted. The effect of effluent concentration and trace element addition was investigated. All of experiment was done in triplicate using serum bottle. The serum bottle was cap with rubber stopper and aluminum cap then flushed with N2 gas to create anaerobic conditions, and placed in an incubator at the room temperature. During the incubation period, gaseous and liquid samples were taken and

Hydrogen and fuel cells are not technically renewable energy although they are everywhere and don't cause much pollution. With hydrogen, it can be used as fuel and the only emission is water. By using hydrogen there can be a large reduction in green house gases and air pollution. Plus the hydrogen can be used in the fuels cells to power electric motors or batteries for electricity. If your wondering what fuel cells is, there pretty much batteries, or what you would power an electric car with. The only thing about hydrogen is that it is hard to obtain, or it takes more energy to make it than it gives off. Hydrogen is an element on the periodic table and is in the gas family. Hydrogen’s atomic number is 1and it was discovered by a man by the name of Henry Cavendish in the year of 1766. Hydrogen has no color, taste, and smell, is slightly soluble in water and is highly explosive. Hydrogen can be found anywhere in the universe and is used as the fuel for many solar reactions. The hydrogen that is in our atmosphere has three different isotopes and they are called protium, which has one proton, then deuterium, which has one proton and one neutron. Then the third is tritium, which has one proton and two neutrons. Now if your wondering what protons and neutrons are, then you came to the right place. A proton is sub atomic particle with a positive charge found in the nucleus of an atom. A neutron is a sub atomic particle with a negative

Recent research, however, uses Methane Monooxygenases as a model. Methane Monooxygenases are oxidoreductase enzymes commonly found in methanotropic bacteria. One of the most studied methanotropic bacteria is Methylococcus capsulatus. It converts methane to methanol then methanol to formaldehyde and formaldehyde to formate and carbon dioxide which is used energy

Homoacetogens are strict anaerobic bacteria that produce acetate from CO2 as a diagnostic end-product of metabolism (Drake 1994, Muller 2003). They can grow on different substrates such as hydrogen, hexoses, formate, carbon monoxide, methoxylated compounds, and alcohols. Depending on what energy sources they are growing with, products in addition to acetate can be formed, and some can produce butyrate from CO2 using the same basic pathway as used for acetate formation. They are known as “homoacetogens” (organisms generating only acetate), “reductive acetogens”, “CO2-reducing acetogens”, or simply as “acetogens”. These different terminologies are confusing, and misleading, since they do not only produce acetate, and acetogens could form acetate by any pathway. In this thesis, the term “homoacetogen” will be used, because it is a simple one word descriptor for this taxonomically-diverse group of bacteria unified by using the Wood-Ljundahl pathway to form acetate from CO2. The term “homoacetogenesis” will be used for this metabolism, and “homobutyrogenesis” for the process in which butyrate is formed from CO2.

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect that temperature has on the growth and respiration of yeast fermentation. The growth and respiration of the yeast can be determined by using a glucose/ yeast solution mixed with water in flasks set at different temperatures. Yeast in order to produce, has to make energy, to carry out all cellular functions (Spicer, & Holbrook, 2007). The concept that aerobic metabolism of all yeasts, is determined by the relative sizes of the transport rate of sugar into the cell and the transport rate of respiratory into the mitochondrion. (Barford, 1990) “Yeast is of various one-celled fungi that can cause the fermentation of carbohydrates, which can lead to producing carbon

A lot of literature is available on different solar hydrogen production techniques.[3,4,6,7,8,9,10] Categorization of these techniques is ambiguous and all the methods have not been discussed in any single literature. An effort has been made to include all the solar hydrogen production techniques and classify them according to the process used: thermochemical, electrochemical and photochemical. An economic analysis of a possible solar hydrogen economy is also examined. Finally, some of the conclusions are listed and avenues for further research are also suggested.

The effect of pollution that is emitted from vehicles is a serious concern in today 's society. The cause of this pollution is the toxic emissions from current vehicles. This toxic emissions or pollution destroys the Earth 's ozone layer or atmospheric gases Acknowledging these facts, many are very concerned with the condition of the Earth 's atmospheric gases in the future. In just a very short time, scientists produced a new vehicle which only emits water out of its exhaust rather than carbon monoxide and other toxic pollutants in modern day internal combustion engines. The Hydrogen automobiles do not require gasoline or ethanol to function, but all they require in Hydrogen. As the name entails, Hydrogen

Research for hydrogen production is very promising. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering, made a breakthrough in hydrogen production technology. He did so using the second most prevalent sugar found in plants. He found a method that uses lower temperatures and produces a high volume of hydrogen. This method results in a net energy gain of more than 100 percent (Hydrogen; Breakthrough in Hydrogen Fuel, 2013).

storage atop of the locomotives chassis, as seen in the illustration to the right. Careful consideration went into designing a containment that would alleviate unnecessary risks of spillage, as the hydrogen will naturally vent upward into the atmosphere due to its natural properties (Miller, 2010).

With nations like Costa Rica, Albania, Paraguay, and Iceland all currently running on 100% renewable electricity, the notion of clean Audi e-fuels rule and sustainable energy is becoming a more realistic and feasible option in the minds of many.

Low concentration of viologen can significantly alter the metabolic process of fermentation. By adding viologen in the fermentation broth, the yields of hydrogen, butyric acid, and acetic acid rapidly decrease, whereas those of butanol and ethanol increase. After the addition of viologen, the color of fermentation broth changes (if methyl viologen is added, the fermentation broth turns blue; if benzyl viologen added, the broth becomes purple), indicating the reduction of viologen by hydrogenase (oxidative viologen is colorless), and the reduced ferredoxin has to compete with viologen for