Researchers are now identifying nitrogen-fixing
bacteria that release all of the hydrogen the microbes produce, which could
lead to a new hydrogen source for fuel cells. Photo courtesy of Department
of Energy.
|
|
Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria Provide Clean Energy
By Rosalie Marion
Bliss
August 25, 2008 A new "green" technology
developed cooperatively by scientists with the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and
North Carolina State University (NC State)
could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Renewable sources of energysuch as hydrogenthat don't produce
pollutants or greenhouse gases are needed to solve global energy shortages.
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are nonrenewable energy sources
implicated in global warming.
The invention holds promise as a source of hydrogen for use in fuel cell
technology. Fuel cell devices combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce
electricity and water, and are considered efficient, quiet and pollution-free.
Fuel cells are now being tested in a range of products, including automobiles
that release no emissions other than water vapor.
ARS inventors Paul Bishop and
Telisa
Loveless and NC State inventors Jonathan Olson and José
Bruno-Bárcena developed the patent-pending technology.
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria play a key role in agriculture. They live in soil
and on certain plant roots, and convert nitrogen from the air into a chemical
form that plants can use to grow. The researchers developed a way to identify
strains of these bacteria that produce hydrogen gas.
Bishop first demonstrated novel aspects of bacterial nitrogen-fixing more
than two decades ago. Building on that work, the team developed a method that
uses a selecting agent to identify these special hydrogen-producing strains.
The selecting agent allows researchers to identify these bacterial strains
without the need for genomic sequencing or genetic modification.
Using the selecting agent, the inventors identified a gene that inactivates
the bacteria's hydrogen uptake system so that all of the hydrogen produced is
released. Because the bacterial cells cannot recycle the hydrogen, the hydrogen
they produce can be captured and used as a fuel whose byproduct is water and
heat.
Licensing information can be obtained by contacting the
ARS
Office of Technology Transfer or the Office of Technology Transfer at NC State.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.