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OKIsItJustMe

(19,937 posts)
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:02 PM Apr 2013

Surprising findings on hydrogen production in green algae

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uu-sfo041213.php
[font face=Serif]Public release date: 15-Apr-2013
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Contact: Stenbörn Styring
stenbjorn.styring@kemi.uu.se
46-018-471-6580
Uppsala University

[font size=5]Surprising findings on hydrogen production in green algae[/font]

[font size=3]New research results from Uppsala University, Sweden, instil hope of efficient hydrogen production with green algae being possible in the future, despite the prevailing scepticism based on previous research. The study, which is published today in the esteemed journal PNAS, changes the view on the ability of green algae – which is good news.



One biological way of producing hydrogen from solar energy is using photosynthetic microorganisms. Photosynthesis splits water into hydrogen ions (H+) and electrons (e-). These can later be combined into hydrogen gas, (H2) with the use of special enzymes called hydrogenases. This occurs in cyanobacteria and green algae, which have the ability to use energy from the sun through photosynthesis and produce hydrogen through their own metabolism.



A group of researchers at Uppsala University, led by Senior Lecturer Fikret Mamedov and Professor Stenbjörn Styring, have now made a discovery that changes the view on hydrogen production from green algae. The researchers studied in detail how Photosystem II works in two different strains of the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. By measuring exactly how the amount and activity of Photosystem II varies under different conditions, and thereby affects hydrogen production, they found that a considerable amount of the energy absorbed by Photosystem II goes directly into hydrogen production.

"As much as 80 per cent of the electrons that the hydrogen-producing hydrogenases need come from Photosystem II, which is much more than previously believed. This means that most of the hydrogen production is driven directly by solar energy. The discovery gives us hope that it in the future will be possible to control the green algae so that the efficiency becomes significantly higher than it is today", says Professor Stenbjörn Styring.[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1220645110 (Doesn’t work yet.)
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/04/10/1220645110.abstract
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